


Subject to Change

by zzzealous



Category: Monster Prom (Visual Novel)
Genre: A Little Bit of Horror, Awkward parental interactions, Beach Sex, Bonding, Character Development, Damien getting cockblocked by his own dads, Developing Relationship, Drinking, Drug Use, Drunken Makeouts, Fights, House Party, Implied veraxamira, M/M, Oh and there's straight up murder, Opening Up, Oral Sex, Other, Public Sex, Teenage Rebellion, They're all a mess, Vulnerable Damien, Vulnerable oz, also a bit of gore, damien being a semi-jealous bitch, fetishes, fuck buddies, lots of making out, mentions of dacryphilia, mentions of scottXvicky, mentions of symphorophilia, minor gore, minor mentions of injuries, nonbinary oz, none of them know what they're doing or how they feel, oz is an eldritch abomination of sorts, serious conversations, that alone makes things kinda weird sometimes, they're all hormonal, things get kinda weird
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-06-07 19:22:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 43,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15226149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zzzealous/pseuds/zzzealous
Summary: Damien had been living with lots of poor life choices and a temper that could kill. He didn't really do "dating". He had too many problems of his own to deal with.Oz had been living quietly, although still with their own share of violence and bad behaviour. But for them, school was important and most people were kept at a distance. Keeping their own secrets safe was a top priority.But all of that was subject to change.





	1. Week 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scenes in this chapter are more of an intro, so they're mainly a play on actual scenes that happen in game, with my own added twists 
> 
> The chapters following will have a lot more, or mostly, original scenes, where the story will really start.
> 
> ********EDIT: it's been months since I posted this first chapter, and looking back I can honestly say this intro chapter is bad, but like it gets better so stick around? Actually the first like 6 chapters are rough but I swear it's uphill from there**********

It would have been so much easier if he just hadn't gone over there that night. 

But that would have been too simple, too easy. 

Instead, fate decided to thrust Damien onto a much different path than he would have ventured down on his own. He had only gone to the outdoor treehouse party in search of Polly, mainly to see if she'd be down to ditch that high school shit and go out to a real club; maybe get wasted; maybe set some shit on fire; maybe just see where the city streets took them. However, upon entering the giant tree, Damien quickly noticed that the usually small party had been turned into a huge, kick-ass rave, with way more people than how many even went to the school. 

The area had been made totally pitch black, and quickly the demon Prince realized he may have trouble finding his ghostly friend when the only lights provided were the constant, seizure-inducing, flashing neon lights of different colours. That wasn't a problem for long, though. 

"YES!! THIS IS TOTALLY THE BEST!!," Polly shouted, from the middle of a circle made by a crowd of people, with a few other students going wild with her in the centre. 

Damien looked up to find the location of Polly's voice, only to see her and some little noob all-out raving. His eyes locked onto the wimp as he approached the two of them. He was pretty sure he'd never seen them before, which meant they were a complete nobody in his books. 

Upon noticing Damien coming over, Polly waved and attempted to shout over the blaring music, "Yo! Isn't this totally sweet!? I met this kid," and she gestured to the noob who had already found another dance partner to hit it up with, leaving Polly to her conversation, "and they, like, totally started this rave and before we knew it, all these people showed up!" 

Damien couldn't see the details of the Nobody too well through the nauseating light show, but he could make out their petite, slim frame. They wore an obnoxiously bright, yellow sweater that had been tied around their waist, the white shirt they wore underneath unbuttoned almost completely. 

In brutal honesty, Damien didn't give a fuck about the rave kid, or even the rave, for that matter, but he was totally down to hang out with Polly for the night, especially if it meant they could go find another party once this one died out. 

\--- 

By the next morning, Damien was beyond hungover from going bar hopping after the rave, which meant he planned to spend the entire morning chilling out in the bathrooms and maybe setting some stalls on fire to try and alleviate his headache. And if that failed, he'd hit up the nurse's office to steal some pain killers. He couldn't remember much from the previous night's events, but he was sure it had been fucking awesome. 

However, upon entering, Damien immediately noticed some little bitch leaning over the sink counter. HIS sink counter, in HIS bathroom, on HIS turf. Not that Damien gave a shit about petty turf wars, or anything. Especially not inside a school he didn't give a fuck about. But as he approached the monster, he realized that they hadn't even registered his presence, yet, which fucking pissed Damien off even more. 

With a rough hand coming down to grip their shoulder, Damien immediately scared the shit out of them, and with a quick jerk backwards, they were cowering up at Damien from a couple inches below him, as the young Prince glowered down at them. He could have sworn he recognized them from somewhere, but only got more pissed off when he couldn't place where they'd met. His pounding headache wasn't helping. Leaning in real close, he was getting ready to chew this kid out, until he caught sight of what they had been doing. On the countertop was a notepad that they had been drawing in, but the real kicker was what they had been drawing. 

It was Damien, himself. 

And his close friend Liam. 

Shirtless and cuddling. 

What. 

The. 

**Fuck.**

Luckily for Damien, he had been looking for someone to turn into his personal punching bag that already-awful morning. 

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" 

And with that, Damien fisted both hands into the collar of the little bitch's shirt and shoved them back against the closest wall, _hard_. He felt them bounce off the wall, slightly, before pushing them flush against it. 

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? ARE YOU SOME KIND OF FUCKING CREEP? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" 

But at some point, while Damien had been chewing them out, the eyes below him went from being dead afraid to wrinkled up at the sides, and the demon realized that this fucking idiot he was trying to yell at was _smiling_...with a mouth he was pretty sure they didn't have before. And that small body went from trembling under his grip to...well... 

There was a voice in Damien's head, suddenly, that definitely wasn't his from its strangely polite yet mischievous tone. 

_"I think you're just looking for some attention."_

Before the prince knew it, there were hands on him, along with little shadowy blob creatures that he DEFINITELY hadn't seen before, and suddenly he was being...tickled? 

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" 

But despite his screams, Damien couldn't help the pink blush that crept up his throat and made itself extra noticeable on his face, and the laughter tugging at his mouth begged to be freed. He fought off the urge to cackle as gentle fingers and little creatures vigorously roamed over the sides of his torso. His mouth still twisted into a smirk and he was almost, ALMOST impressed. 

It was a strange feeling to have someone else's hands on him when he hadn't initiated the contact, and the more he was tickled, the more Damien realized he liked this. 

"You must be fucking stupid to pull this shit on me," he finally managed to choke out. He grabbed hold of both their wrists and pushed the noob back up against the wall. Somewhat out of breath, he smirked down at them, "But it also takes some balls, so I'll give you that..." 

Looking at them, now, he was almost positive he knew this twerp, until it finally hit him. 

"Yo, fuck, you were the one with Polly at that rave last night..." But even while saying it, Damien almost seemed like he wasn't convinced. His grip on the smaller monster grew tighter. "But...you don't exactly look like the intense partying type, ya know..." 

Yeah, it was totally them. There was that yellow sweater, now pulled over their white shirt which had been buttoned up almost all the way, and that tiny figure of theirs that probably would have looked more appealing to Damien in that moment had he not been so hungover. But the noob still looked like a total nerd, and from how fearful those eyes had looked up at him, before, he was pretty sure they acted like one. 

With Damien glaring them down and their rather uncomfortable position, the small monster decided to get themselves out of that situation. 

_"Looks can be deceiving."_

And before Damien even realized, the creature had slipped out of his grip and oozed into a shadow on the floor. After darting across the tile behind the demon, they materialized by the bathroom entrance and ran out. They only looked back once while opening the door to shoot Damien a look that said they were smiling, even though the mouth was now gone from their face. 

For a second, Damien found himself alone, and his gaze made it back over to the sinks. He realized the twerp had left their notebook behind. Looking down at the drawings of himself and Liam, he had the briefest moment of thinking they'd look much better if it was that noob he was cuddling in those drawings, instead. 

His mind quickly switched over to thinking about if he should beat some sense into himself, but only after slipping the notebook into his jacket. 

 

\---- 

A few days passed with no sign of the little noob, and Damien quickly stopped thinking about their encounters. They were definitely, so completely, irrelevant to him and his life, and still a total Nobody. So really, that should have been it; the end. 

He had been chilling with Polly in the cafeteria, both with their epic flask collections spread out across the table. While Polly had been in the middle of listing off their different contents in an attempt to prove she had the Best Flask Collection, she had stopped mid-sentence when her eyes caught sight of someone. 

"Yoo! Oz! Over here!" 

She was waving someone down, and by the time Damien looked up, that little noob was making their way over to their lunch table. 

She gestured over to the little twerp when she looked over at Damien. "This is Oz! You remember them, right? They're the one that got that suuuuper sick party going the other night. They're like, pretty rad." 

Damien's eyes narrowed as he stared down the noob, who was apparently named Oz. The smaller monster had on an expressionless face which gave nothing away. Damien gave them a fair warning about sitting at their table, but he couldn't say he was displeased with the turn of events. After giving Polly a run-down of his Obviously Better Collection of flasks, Damien noticed the noob just sitting there, small dimples emphasized at the corners of their face, and he was pretty sure they were smiling. Their eyes were turned down at the edges, giving an almost-empathetic look to the other two monsters. Damien still wondered what happened to that mouth he had seen before. 

He almost wanted to chew the meek kid out for looking so patronizingly at them, until Oz pulled out a small, transparent flask, seemingly from nowhere, almost as if it had materialized from nothing. They placed it on the table gently. 

Both Damien and Polly gave each other a look when enough time passed that it almost seemed as though Oz wasn't going to give an explanation for it. 

_"This is a genie potion,"_ they whispered, voice ringing in the two monsters' heads. They tapped the flask to disturb the genie sitting inside, which made its presence known by suddenly swimming around. _"Mother says I should save it for an emergency."_

Damien was about to interject with something along the lines of how dumb it is to listen to your parents, because clearly any authority is total bullshit, but the voice was back again while he was about to open his mouth. 

_"But I grant my own damn wishes."_

And just like that, Oz knocked back some of the contents and screams emitted from the container, presumably from the small genie inside being consumed. When they brought their head and the flask back down, Polly, but especially Damien, were giving them a wide-eyed look. 

They held the flask in an out-stretched hand towards Damien. 

_"Want some?"_

And in that moment Damien looked the little noob up and down. 

Oh, he absolutely wanted some.


	2. Week 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much all original scenes, here, except for the first one which is based off of something that happens in-game.

It felt like Damien started seeing Oz everywhere he went. 

Which was strange considering before a few days ago, he'd never seen them anywhere, as far as he could remember. Or, of course, there was the possibility that Damien had just never noticed them, which was generally the case with him and most people. It wasn't necessarily that Damien didn't care about other people, but rather that a lot of them ended up being annoying as fuck and very quickly his terrible temper would get the better of him. 

Sometimes it was just easier to keep others at a distance, especially those he knew couldn't handle him or weren't worth him killing. Either way. 

_What a strange little fuckin' nerd they are..._

He had honestly been surprised that the little twerp hadn't run screaming from him or crumbled under his fists. 

It was definitely new. 

And he didn't know how to feel about it just yet. 

"Hey, uh, Damien, are you spacing out, bud?" 

The Demon Prince looked over to see Scott tilting his head in curiosity, and it was in that moment that Damien remembered he was in the middle of something and should not be thinking over his feelings about a certain tiny nerd. Him and Scott had been trying on costumes backstage in the theatre, trying and not really succeeding at finding matching outfits. 

The backstage was fairly old and worn-down, and could have used some touch-ups, but it still felt like a comforting place to Damien all the same, with way more space than was needed. Despite almost never going to class, and holding last-year's record for most absences, he still very much attended theatre; and not just for the extra-curricular hours he needed to graduate, like most students speculated was the case. 

Getting back to business, the demon continued to rummage through boxes of old, dust-covered costumes that hadn't been touched in fuck knows how long. "Yeah, fuck, man, I don't know. I've just got shit on my mind. Don't put too much thought into it." 

Scott wanted to press him more but didn't. Comforting people was a hobby of his, but knowing Damien, if the werewolf tried to get all soft with him, he'd lose his mind and end up setting the whole theatre on fire. So, he let it slide. 

Before long, they'd found matching beige suit jackets on a rack with old costumes from five years ago when the school had done a detective play set in the early 1900s. Coupled with a few other accessories, they looked like a pretty decent duo. 

From their position they could hear the clapping from on-going practice happening onstage. The school generally did two big plays a year, and the second was due to happen before prom. Because of the size of the cast, some actors rarely practiced at the same time as others and would never end up on stage at the same time. Except maybe to come out and bow at the end. 

When the clapping died down, signaling the end of practice, a few of the actors made their ways backstage. The night sky showed through the curtain that was pushed aside, and a certain shadow monster blended into it so well that anyone looking would have thought they were just a floating costume. After making their way over, Scott recognized them to be Oz, and grew infinitely more excited to share his and Damien's costumes with them. 

"Oz! Buddy! Check it out!" Scott was giddy with excitement as Oz inspected the costume their friend had on with a finger to their not-present mouth. 

Oz urged him to tell them about it while they changed out of their get-up, disappearing behind a one of the fitting room curtains. 

"We're going to do the best reenactment of our favourite game! Isn't that exciting?" 

_"Quite. So, what're you doing hanging out backstage?"_

"Well...we're just trying to put together some costumes right now." 

Oz reappeared, now dressed in their regular attire. They looked Scott up and down, and then Damien. 

_"Looks good to me."_

Damien finally spoke up and began with a casual shrug. "Yeah, they're all right, so far, but they're still missing something...something that really says, 'we mean business', ya know?" 

That finger was back at their mouth area and Oz contemplated what the demon could mean. Their thinking didn't last long, though, before a look that was hard to read crossed over their face, and they were on their knees, digging through their shoulder bag for something. After a brief moment, they rose again and presented Damien with an antique pistol, held out to him in their open palms. 

With a quick movement, Damien swiped the pistol and inspected the pretty, vintage body. It was loaded and ready to go, and his eyes sparkled as he looked over it. 

"Whoa, dude, this is FUCKING METAL! It's fucking perfect for robbing that ban- I mean...Reenacting our game." 

Oz gave him a knowing look. 

When they were about to part ways, the small monster wished them both good luck, but only after pulling Damien down to their level by the arm, and whispering, _"If anyone asks you, that gun isn't mine."_

And with a toothy grin and a wink, Damien left, with Scott by his side, into the fresh night air. 

\---- 

Damien had meant to return the gun, he really had. But like most things, it slipped his mind, and his ever-growing collection of Oz's things increased. Actually, he had almost entirely forgotten he had it until gym class later that week. 

They really hadn't seen each other much since then, and Damien found himself busy going out with his friends and trying to wingman for a few of them and their potential to-be prom dates. Life always seemed to get busier and Damien got caught up with friends and robbery and arson most days. Which meant neglecting the less important matters, like working at becoming the next King of Hell, or the little nerd he was now eyeing during a dodgeball game. 

One class' game finished before the other's, and the students were on break, sitting on the benches along the sidelines. It was a good day to have kicked ass in dodgeball, but less of a good one when he felt two familiar monsters slide up onto either side of him on the bench. 

"Sooo, you busy monster-watching?" Amira asked with a laugh at the end that already made Damien's lip curl up into a snarl. 

"I don’t know what you're fucking talking about." 

It was Vera's turn to chime in on his other side with, "Uh, yeah, sure. Great lying, you dork. You've been staring at that dweeb since we sat down for break." 

The gorgon motioned towards Oz with a finger, only for Damien to slap it down. 

"Yeah, cool; so fucking what if I was? You don't need to broadcast it to the whole fucking gym." 

And yeah, sure, he'd been staring at Oz the whole time. The noob had proved surprisingly good as a team leader and it had been interesting to watch. 

That's all. 

And yeah, sure, maybe it helped that Oz looked surprisingly good in the gym uniform. He'd never noticed until then, probably because he hadn't noticed Oz at all, before. But as it turned out, the kid actually had the ass to fill in the gym shorts quite well, which happened to look fucking good when they ran around the court. And maybe their slim body looked cute in the fitted t-shirt, the sleeves still big, though, for their tiny arms. And maybe when they ran around or jumped up, the t-shirt would lift, and Damien would get a nice view of their tight, slim waist, that he just happened to want to put his hands all over. 

So _fucking_ what? 

There was a sigh from Vera's side, followed by, "You're an idiot." 

And with that, the whole bench they were sitting on went up in flames. When Oz's class looked over to see the commotion, they all quickly went back to what they were doing, figuring it was Damien just being his normal self, despite his constant yelling, at one of his classmates in particular, of, "I'M AN IDIOT!? YOU'RE THE FUCKING IDIOT!!" 

\---- 

"Please, please, please can you come with meeee?" 

Brian was sitting at the small kitchen table in their shared apartment, arms crossed and staring deadpan ahead, while Vicky vigorously shook his shoulders. 

"This is, like, the first party I've been invited to all year! And I am _not_ going alone!" 

Still, Brian stared straight ahead, doing his best to stay quiet and just hoped she'd eventually give up and leave him be. 

"Briaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan." 

Eventually he shut his eyes and mustered up a response. "Why can't you just go with Amira?" 

And as if on cue, Amira came out from the bedroom she shared with Vicky while putting in some snazzy earrings. 

"I _am_ going with her. But we need a ride, and it looks like you're the only one in this group with a car, Zombie Boy." She gave a wink as she sat down across the table from him. 

They had all been living together for the past two years, and yet somehow, they all still managed to get on each other's nerves, one way or another. 

There was a long silence as he considered his next words, and what exactly this night would turn into if he did agree to go. He had no idea who's house they were going to, and if he was driving, that meant absolutely no drinking on his end. He couldn't imagine how much fun he'd have on his own while Amira and Vicky surely would go off to get plastered together or with their to-be prom dates. 

"Fine. But only if Oz comes, too." 

There was no way he was going to get stuck sober and alone at some party. 

And that was how the four of them wound up parked across the street from some stranger's house, working on a game plan. The loud thumping of the music could be heard even through the car, where Brian and Vicky sat in the front, with Oz and Amira in the back. Enough people had filled the house that some of them had chosen to take the party outside onto the lawn and watched as their car pulled up. 

Vicky kneeled on the beat-up passenger seat once the car had fully stopped, crossing her arms on top of the headrest. "Ok, so, we need to agree on some stuff for tonight." 

The three others nodded in agreement, waiting for her to go on. 

"First of all, we all leave together. This is our first party where all of us have gotten to go together, so no monster gets left behind! Got it?" 

Amira was the first to speak up, with a resounding, "You know it, girl!" 

"Good. And secondly, the most important part, we all need to have each other's backs. You know, just in case anything goes down." 

That one was obvious and didn't need to be said, but they still all approved it. 

And when the crew stepped out of the car, a certain gorgon had been sitting by the second-floor window and caught them walking. With one swift move, her phone was out, and she was dialing. 

"Yo, Vera. What do you want?" Came the response from the other end after only a couple of rings. 

She gazed at her nails of the hand not holding the cell as she said, "Your boy toy just showed up to this party, so you'd better get your ass over here. Also, you owe me $5 for that information. Make sure you bring it with you when you come."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> List of Oz's things that are currently in Damien's possession (yes this may be important later):  
> -their primary doodle notebook  
> -an antique gun


	3. Week 2, Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have accidentally been updating this 3 days in a row so far

They arrived inside the house with Vicky leading the way. Upon entering, they were quickly approached by a brooding werewolf who had been standing near the door. The group of four almost immediately felt intimidated by the man's size. 

He towered over all of them, and the muscles on his crossed, fur-covered arms seemed to flex when he joked, "You sure you got the right house?" 

The look he gave the four of them was skeptical, and they all knew they were out of place in the house party that consisted of way cooler and definitely tougher monsters. Some looked to be older than any of their little group. 

Vicky chimed in with her cheery tone, seemingly not as threatened by the large beast. She did her best to shout over the blaring music, "Yeah, Scott invited us!" 

The hard stare from the werewolf remained for a moment, but only before softening into a knowing look. 

"Hold on." 

They were left to wait by the front door as he went to holler up the stairs to Scott. After the friendlier werewolf came barreling down the stairs and Vicky jumped into his arms, they were finally allowed entry. 

"Hah, thanks for coming, you guys! Sorry if my bud spooked you a little bit," he said while ruffling Vicky's messy hair, making it even more messy. If that was even possible. 

"Nah, nah, it's fine," Amira assured him. "Nothing we couldn't have handled on our own." 

Which was obviously a lie, considering the wolfpack was terrifying, even individually. But no one called her out on that. 

After walking through the short entrance hallway, they were informed by Scott that the house was being rented by the wolfpack, and that many parties got thrown in it year-round. Not that Scott willingly attended many of them. Once inside the living room, it became clear that the place looked like a frat house –messy and unkempt and half destroyed from parties and fights. It was also so crowded that even finding a place to stand was near impossible, and Oz and Brian each kept ahold of the other's arm as they waded through the crowd. 

Scott and Vicky were quickly engrossed in a conversation about this and that and how cool the party was and who some of the other monsters were and "did you find the place alright?". Before long she was up sitting on his shoulders, being carried away to a ping pong table in the other room. 

They didn't even realize Vera was standing at Amira's side until she spoke up. "Wow, can't believe you dorks got invited to this." 

It was an empty insult that was barely heard over the music that literally shook the walls, but she was right. Brian and Oz knew absolutely no one there except for the few monsters that they'd met at school. Which wasn't many. At least Amira had gotten close with Vera, and Vicky had actually been directly invited. 

And before Brian could even shrug it off, Amira followed Vera upstairs, shouting over her shoulder, "Don't get into too much trouble without me!" 

That left Brian and Oz entirely alone downstairs, in the middle of a party where they knew no one. The two gave each other a familiar look, as it wasn't really the first time they had been left to fend for themselves. It wasn't that they would get intentionally ditched by the girls, but more-so that Vicky often got easily distracted by other, more exciting things, and Amira enjoyed going her own way. The zombie boy and his smaller companion were more than happy with each other's company, so they figured they could survive this. 

Brian took the lead and got them through the crowd and over to the ping pong table in the next room. Oz finally let go of his jacket sleeve, then, assuming they wouldn't lose each other. When Brian went to look back at them, they, too, were gone. 

So, instead, he slid into a chair that someone had just vacated, and watched the doubles match, rooting for Vicky and Scott. The room was much smaller, more intimate, and the few other monsters in it mainly hugged the sides of the room as to not interrupt the game of ping pong happening in the middle. When Brian looked back again, Oz had returned and was bearing a red solo cup. It appeared to contain an amber-coloured liquid that Brian assumed was beer but wasn't too sure about from his position. Oz opted for offering little sips of it to their shadow buddies, not actually drinking any of it themself. 

They stayed there, side-by-side, watching the few rounds of games, mainly silence between them. Their ears were flooded with a thousand voices from around the house. The intense bass from the popular rock song shook the walls and Brian's rib cage, and the red-coloured mood lighting seemed to sink and disappear into the infinite shadows of Oz's skin. 

At some point Brian had zoned out watching the game. He only registered that he had just been staring blankly at the table when the ball stopped bouncing across it, and Scott and Vicky appeared to be talking to someone. When he looked at the opposite end of the table, Damien was there. He had shooed off the two monsters they had been facing off against, and was now standing there by himself, holding one of the paddles and looking cocky as hell. 

"So, you two wanna take me on?" 

Scott and Vicky seemed excited enough about the offer. But there was a wall of yellow in front of Brian's view for a short moment, and then it was gone. He registered then that Oz was now standing next to Scott, gesturing for him to give them the paddle. It only took a second for both Scott and Vicky to step away, leaving the small shadow monster on their side of the table. 

_"You up for a challenge?"_ They asked, carefully adjusting the paddle in their hand. 

Everyone in the room could have sworn an actual fire lit in Damien's eyes, right then, when he said, " _Fuck_ yeah." 

\---- 

After a good fifteen minutes of friendly competition that turned into Damien lighting the ball on fire and smashing holes into Oz's side of the table, which turned into Oz creating shadow duplicates of the ball when they missed hitting the original, sending the duplicate immediately back to Damien's side and throwing him off, Brian decided to get up. He went on a search for a non-alcoholic drink. That task proved incredibly difficult. After checking the main fridge, the coolers set up inside and outside, and the mini fridge in the garage, his quest came to a pitiful end. 

He trudged back to the ping pong room, only to find new teams playing at the table. Damien and Oz were nowhere in sight. 

\---- 

In a tragic-looking, incredibly messy bedroom upstairs, Oz was pinned between the mattress and Damien. 

The Demon Prince actually hadn't been entirely sure how he had gotten the shadow monster up there with him. He vaguely recalled continuously hitting on Oz, but he hadn't expected the noob to be the one to kiss _him_ first. It was all sort of a haze for Damien. That generally was the case when he downed half a bottle of Fireball before going out. 

Street lights faintly came in through slits in the blinds, casting strange shadows over the bed that seemed to ripple against Oz. They looked cute and stupid lying there. 

He pressed himself as hard against Oz's little body as he could without crushing them. The heat from his chest nearly scorched Oz's sweater as one black arm came up around the demon's neck, another found its way up the back of his jacket and across his toned back. Jagged finger nails, that Damien knew, even in his inebriated state, that Oz didn't have before, pressed into the flesh between his shoulder blades. The shadow boy's watch got caught in the hair at the base of Damien's skull, so he quickly removed it and tossed it above their heads onto the bed. When he re-positioned himself and his tongue met the small being's neck, a noise came out of Oz that definitely wasn't in the demon's mind, but rather from an actual mouth. Damien lifted his head up just enough to see the huge grin spread ear to ear across Oz's face. Razor sharp teeth lined the top and bottom. 

Before the demon could protest, not that he would have, there was a hand on the back of his head, and his mouth was forced against Oz's. It was a mess of tongue and especially teeth. When he felt the slightest bit of those razors come down on his bottom lip, it was already too late. His lip had been cut right open. 

"Fuck, _baby_..."

The sharp pain mixed with the taste of blood made the front of Damien's pants tighten and ignited a fire in his chest that drove his hands up Oz's sweater and shirt, and gripped onto that tight, little waist he had been admiring from afar for the past few days. 

But things quickly came crashing down. 

They both heard Brian's voice at the door before they saw him. 

"Yo, Oz, we gotta go. Like...now." 

Damien began to raise his voice at the zombie while Oz just titled their head to the side, waiting. 

"Amira and one of the wolfpack got into a stupid fight and they threw her out. She's in the car, already." 

He turned to head downstairs, not bothering to explain further. Oz had rolled out from under Damien and was on their feet, not needing any more information. 

"What the fuck? Where are you going? What does any of that shit have to do with you?" 

Oz simply shrugged, and the mouth had disappeared. _"We leave together. Plus, Brian is my ride. Sorry."_

And without another word, they were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course they can't fuck already.  
> That'd be too easy.


	4. Week 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also this is like a long game, so 6 weeks before prom (i see a lot of people using 3 weeks, so i'm just clarifying)

In school the following week, Damien's life had somehow devolved into more of a mess than it normally was. He had been cockblocked by some noob's roommate, leaving him very drunk at some stupid party, and also leaving him very horny for the days following that event. His own hand proved to be a life-saver in the department, however it still wasn't the same as having that stupid fucking twink under him. It just wasn't. 

And then, to top it all off, he managed to get detention on the first day back that week. He was due to show up for it at the end of the day, but god fucking damn it all to hell there was no way he could get detention again. His dads would **absolutely** kill him for it. Or, even worse, they'd put him under house arrest again. Fuck no. It wasn't his fault that reading porn in class was apparently "against school code". And it sure wasn't his fault that apparently it was "illegal" or whatever to jerk off to said porn in class just to get a kick out of disgusting Vera, who had been sitting beside him, by doing so. 

But whether it was his fault or not, he then had detention for the hundred thousandth time. 

_This is what I get for showing up to fucking class._

At very least, he could still sit through lunch and try to make some fun out of that. Or just attempt to enjoy the copious amounts of food he'd be shoveling into his face to keep the furnace in his stomach aflame. When he stopped by his locker on the way to the cafeteria to shove some shit haphazardly into it, he paused when going to take off his jacket. He had on the watch that he took off Oz at the party. The Demon Prince had considered just leaving it on the bed or pawning it off, since the little fucker had ditched out on him. But he had opted for putting it on and keeping it concealed under his jacket sleeve until it could be returned. So, he kept his jacket on. 

When Damien finally sat down to lunch, he spotted Oz walking in. He hadn't seen them since their brief make-out. He was tempted to be a bit annoyed at Oz for leaving him hard and alone at the party, but that thought quickly dissipated. The little shadow was sporting some pink Ray Bans on their head, not actually wearing them over their eyes. Damien didn't put it together, but it was a fashion choice they'd decided to take from Polly, which only implied that those two had been spending more time together. They looked too cute on them for something so fucking stupid. When Oz caught his eye, Damien was sure they were coming over to sit with him. 

They walked right passed him. Instead, they were seemingly going over to the next table to sit with the shop keeper cat gal who Damien still didn't know the fucking name of. 

He vaguely recalled losing his mind. 

He was pretty sure he threw his tray up and knocked the table over, along with Vera who had been sitting with him. However, the demon paid very little attention to her screams of "ARE YOU FUCKING DUMB!?", because he became much too preoccupied with setting fire to the whole cafeteria. 

Damien wasn't exactly proud of his blind rage. But, it still got the better of him whenever he got even vaguely annoyed. Which, unfortunately for everyone around him, was often. In this case, those around him included everyone in the cafeteria, who were then sprinting for the exits or windows. The tables and chairs were stupidly made of wood, as if the school administration hadn't learned anything from having Damien in their institution all these years. 

When he saw Oz making a run for it, he dashed after them and gripped one of the small monster's sleeves once they had made it into the hallway. As a number of students were running by screaming, others simply walked out and accepting that this was just a normal day at monster school. All of the students alike made their ways around the two students now standing in the already crowded hall. 

_"So...uh...what was that about?"_

Oz was just a tad hesitant to speak out against the boy who set part of the school ablaze. They kept walking, hoping not to be burned alive by the spreading fire, but also trying to keep a slow pace so Damien would follow them. 

"Ah, fuck...you know," Damien began, realizing that telling the truth in this situation would be beyond dumb. It was one thing to have to live with being a fucking psycho who had no control over his own emotions, least of all his temper. It was another to have to admit that he just set a room filled with people on fire because he was starting to become way too much of a jealous bitch. Jealous Bitch was not a good look on anyone. And neither was Desperate. Both of which Damien was feeling right then. "Just some dumb shit Vera said that set me off. The usual." 

Which almost didn't feel like a lie, considering that was often the case during the lunchtimes shared between the gorgon and Demon Prince. 

_"Whatever,"_ they shrugged. _"It's not like I eat anyway."_

While they moved down the corridor side-by-side, he laughed. "Right. So, what's the point of that mysterious mouth of yours if you don't eat?" 

As Oz opened the nearest exit door, not long after the sprinklers started going off overhead, there was laughing in Damien's mind. 

_"It serves...other purposes."_

And by the way the words "other purposes" seemed to echo on through an endless void, and the way that the quiet laughter resembled only that of which Damien imagined serial killers laughed when dismembering a victim, the demon was pretty sure Oz was flirting with him. Also, the blush that accompanied the words was a dead giveaway. 

So, he did what only seemed like a reasonable response, and slipped his hand into Oz's. When intertwining their fingers, Oz's felt like a thick fog that didn't appear deadly but was ready to swallow Damien whole. 

"Well, sorry about ruining lunchtime, anyways." There was a shit-eating grin on his face when he said, "Maybe I can make it up to you." 

Oz took their hand back but returned the smile nonetheless. After a couple of quiet moments, they sat themselves down on the grass while awaiting the fire to be dealt with. The shadow monster finally spoke up again, eventually. 

_"I have class that I don't plan to skip out on."_

Damien had really planned to make them change their mind about that, but he didn't get the chance. 

_"But, if you want to do something after school...that could be arranged."_

Which the Demon Prince happily agreed to. In his head, though, he was trying to think of places they could go that involved a bed or at very least some privacy. He supposed a bed wasn't entirely necessary. A couch would do. Or a bathroom. Or a car. Or really, if no one else seemed to be around, they could just lay out there on the grass and- 

"OH FUCK. SHIT. Wait. I forgot. I have detention after school." 

He really couldn't believe his fucking luck, sometimes. However, the stare Oz was giving him was puzzling until a quiet, building voice started in Damien's head. 

_"Just ditch."_ Which was quickly followed by sinister eyes and, _"Do it. Ditch detention."_

And then that mischievous look in Oz's eyes that Damien realized he was coming to get too accustomed with was back, their voice getting louder and louder in his head. 

_"Do it. Do it. DO IT. You can just skip detention forever."_

"Yo, you trying to peer pressure me into ditching out on detention?" He paired the now even larger smirk on his face with a playful punch to Oz's arm. "But that's not a fucking bad idea. If I never go to detention again, what're they going to do? Just give me more detention? HAH. Fuck that shit." 

There was a moment where they just sat there, looking at each other, while the spring sun glowed overhead, and the grass felt softer than Damien could ever remember it feeling. 

"I've never seen you in detention with me, before. You just too much of a goody-two-shoes for that shit?" 

_"I never get detention because I never get caught, not because I don't do things that warrant detention...or arrest."_

The demon had never meant it more before when he whispered out, " _Fuck._ That's hot." 

When the sprinklers inside stopped going off and the school staff came out looking annoyed as hell in Damien's direction, Oz decided it was time for them to head back. 

"Well uh...Have fun in class. Not sure how class could be fucking fun, but it must be for you if you're willingly going to it." 

The little dimples that formed on Oz's cheeks told Damien they were smiling. But when the shadow being turned to leave, Damien still had a grip on their arm. 

"Wait, hold on. So, you can't go out with me now because you can't risk missing class, but it's totally cool with you to pressure me into skipping detention?" 

_"Well, I guess I'm just a bad influence on you."_

And fucking hell. Damien consumed bad influences like his life depended on it. Oz would be no exception.


	5. Week 3, Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> while writing this chapter up i realized just how long this whole fic is going to be and uuhhhh

Damien had made himself comfortable in the washroom when the school day approached its end. He figured he would just wait for Oz's class to be over and busied himself by thinking of places they could go together. In all honesty, he mainly wanted a secluded, at least partially-empty, place where they could get it on. It was most of what he had been thinking about since their night at the party. 

When he heard class bells ring for the end of the day, he figured he would go out to meet Oz eventually. He hadn't exactly planned out where or when they would meet, but he was sure he'd figure it out. Planning was not his forte. 

But in that moment, Oz entered the bathroom, gently pushing the door open and poking their head in. They had assumed that was where Damien would most likely be. Oz gave themselves a mental pat on the back for that good guess once their eyes met Damien's and chalked it up to their high smarts stat for figuring that one out. In reality the bathroom was one of the only places Damien would have been on the days he actually showed up for school. The demon stopped carving some profanity into the sides of a stall where he had been sitting. He uncrossed his legs and stood to smirk at Oz. 

"Hey, you. You look like you have nothing better to do; wanna go out with me?" 

It was an obvious joke, as Damien looked like what Oz would only describe as giddy. He was so ready to take that little noob for a ride, in more ways than one. 

But Oz wanted to play along. _"What if I made other plans? And I'm just coming to let you know?"_

"I'll just have to set those 'other plans' up in flames and make sure I'm all you're doing."

And that was a promise. 

They exited the school through the back entrance, mostly in a semi-awkward silence. Oz was tempted to ask where they were going, but Damien seemed to have his mind set on something, so they just followed along behind him. When the two monsters made it to the back parking lot, a ridiculous looking motorcycle that could only belong to the Prince of Hell awaited them. Oz voiced that the bike was pretty cool, and Damien corrected them by saying it was "fucking cooler than anything the little noob had ever seen, and they knew it". 

Oz was more than a tad nervous about getting on the thing. 

"C'mon, Princess. Just hold on tight to me and you'll be fine," the demon teased as he mounted the bike. 

The little shadow being was going to ask if they should have helmets on but stopped. It was Damien. He definitely did not own any helmets. 

After securing their arms tightly around Damien's waist, and once they felt comfortable enough, they gave the demon the go-ahead to take off. The motorcycle pulled out of the school and picked up speed quickly. The beginning of the ride grew more scenic the closer to the downtown they got. Looking at all the shops and streets they had never seen before on this path they had never ventured down gave Oz something to do so they'd be a little less nervous about going so fast. They had never been on a motorcycle before, and with Damien at the helm and with no helmets, they were on edge. 

Eventually Oz caught sight of the sand and water starting to show over the horizon, and they realized they were headed for the coast. 

\---- 

When Damien first put a hand on Oz, it was surprisingly tentative. While they both laid on the sand, watching the sun get closer to the horizon line, Damien actually hesitated. Not because he hadn't wanted to do this, but more so because he worried the distant voices would make Oz not want this. Despite going to a secluded area of the beach where there were large rocks coming up from the water that kept swimmers away and where the city was barely visible, anymore, civilization could still be heard and seen not far from them. Damien had originally brought them there because the beach on a weekday evening in late May weather was not ideal for most people. So, it was quiet. But not entirely. 

But to his surprise, Oz responded well to his advance. The eyes that stared back at Damien were nervous, but the shadow monster's actions said differently. There were arms around the Prince's neck before he had even put his mouth on Oz. He waited a brief moment for that mysterious little mouth to show up on the other's face. It didn't take long. 

Damien _loved_ those teeth. More than he probably should have. When his lips met Oz's, he ran his tongue across the points of the dagger-like fangs that were kept in place by warm, soft, shadowy-goo. He imagined how good it would feel to have that gooey mouth wrapped around his cock. The thought made him snake an arm around Oz's waist and pull them flush against him. A hand went up Oz's sweater and shirt and gripped onto the little waist that Damien fawned over so much. 

After a long period of sloppily making out and Damien practically shoving his long tongue down Oz's throat, the demon laid Oz on their back. He was on top of them immediately and Oz was in a good position to hump up against the leg Damien had between theirs. When Damien removed his jacket and top, the little shadow followed suit and took off their sweater and shirt. However, when those red hands were on Oz's pants zipper, there was a smirk looking up at Damien. 

_"At least take me to dinner first."_

Damien smirked back but continued on his way to remove Oz's pants. He was beginning to get way too fucking horny to be talking. He had spent too much of the last week thinking about things he could do to the tiny noob. Thought about being on top of them; thought about seeing if that mouth could make some actual noise; thought about seeing how hard he could fuck Oz into a mattress before the little twink's hips snapped. 

"I don't do 'dinner', honey." 

But he really meant it. 

This wouldn't go any further than sex. 

That's all this would be. 

Damien was sure of it.


	6. Week 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's a tad bit longer than the previous chapters woohoo

Oz's brain was stuck thinking about the sand on their back and the heat of Damien against and inside of them. It was also stuck on remembering the ride back from the beach. Quiet. But peacefully quiet. They had expected things to be awkward, but Damien had been pretty chill about the whole scenario. Oz wondered if that was because he had been in similar situations enough times before. 

But when all that was said and done, Oz simply went home and didn't hear from Damien at all over the weekend. They were reminded that they didn't even have Damien's number, even if they wanted to contact him. They were also reminded that Damien didn't do "dating". 

And Oz was sure that they were fine with that. 

But it didn't stop the intense feeling of wanting to see him again. 

Or the intense feeling of wondering if that would be the last time they'd be together. 

Their anxiousness tended to out-weigh rational thought. 

While entirely zoned out, Oz was struck with a sharp _WHOOP_ to the face that would have definitely left a red mark if the monster had normal skin. They heard the sound of a rubbery ball bouncing away along the gym floor. 

"Oz, you're out!" 

The coach's voice was loud throughout the gym and shook the other students, but Oz barely heard it. They were too stuck in their own head thinking about the week before. They didn't have to look up to know that the coach was pointing to the bench, waiting for Oz to get the fuck off the court. 

But before they could make their way over to the sidelines, they noticed another player on their team, one of the few left, who was shaking, visibly terrified. She looked just about ready to hit herself with a ball just so she wouldn't have to go on playing with all the pressure on her and the couple of other students left to defend their team. Oz could feel the fear coming off her, one of the only things they could feel in that moment. They felt terrible for not being a good team player and spacing out during the game, so they headed over to her while she was frantically dodging balls. Her sneakers made a loud squeaking noise on the gym floor as she came to a halt just in time as to not knock Oz, who was now next to her, over. 

_"Listen, sorry I fucked up back there."_

The girl was much too frantic to really stop and listen, so she just gave a quick, "Um, that's f-fine, but could you um...get out of my way?" She was already running around Oz, caught between trying not to get knocked out and giving up. 

But Oz couldn't just leave it at that. _"No, no, listen. You can still change this around."_

They ran around after her with the coach shouting in the background, "Oz! What are you doing? Get off the court!" Which, Oz pretty much ignored. 

_"I mean I know there are a lot of people left on the other team but like...you're usually so good at dodgeball. Like in every gym class."_

There were hands on them, suddenly, as the girl pushed Oz away from her and jumped back herself. A ball violently hit the back wall beside them with a loud _THUNK_ and Oz was grateful to her for not having to endure another hit to the face that day. 

_"Just...don't give up, now."_

And with that, Oz sulked their way over to the bench, plopping themselves down on it. They hung their head low for the rest of the game, not really watching the match. Their team still lost, in the end. When the couch announced that they could all hit the showers, Oz was one of the last ones up off the bench. They hoped that if they got there slow enough, a decent amount of the other students would have already finished up in the changerooms, and they could quietly get their stuff on their own. 

However, despite their slow pace and doing their best to hide themselves away as they changed out of their gym clothes, Oz was approached by the scared girl once they had made their way to shove their stuff into a gym locker. She looked a lot less scared, then, and more-so concerned. 

"Hey, uh, thanks for encouraging me out there." 

Oz only shrugged it off. _"We still lost, and I was still an idiot during that game."_ They shut their stuff away in a small locker and closed it quietly with a tentative hand. _"Sorry."_

"Are you normally this hard on yourself?" 

The girl just fidgeted a bit, unsure how to say what she really wanted. But Oz gave her the go-ahead. 

"Listen...you're usually a real team player in gym. Like, I mean, I don't really know you or anything, but you seemed really spaced out today. Compared to normal, at least." 

And boy, were they ever. Every time they stopped to think, the only thoughts that entered their mind were ones of Damien's breath on their neck and hands on their waist. But it had to have been pretty bad for someone else who Oz didn't even know to point it out. 

They blushed out of embarrassment. _"Oh...yeah. Uh, I'm sorry about that. I know it affected the team and us losing but...my mind's just kind of elsewhere."_

When they walked out of the changerooms together, Oz thought that would be it as they were headed off for the library, but the girl continued to follow alongside them. 

"Seriously, you can stop apologizing. Did uh...did something happen?" 

Had Oz been talking to Brian, they could have said that yes, something had happened; that dumb high school crushes weren't supposed to make you feel this desperate; that feelings are dumb; that being alone was something they had always enjoyed, but now they actually had someone they wanted to be beside and being alone only made them feel...lonely. 

But instead, Oz opted for shrugging. _"Sort of. It's nothing I won't get over, though."_

The little shadow didn't particularly seem to want to get into it, so they both left it at that. The two parted ways once they reached the library. 

_Just how long until I get over it, though?_

It was just a stupid, teenage crush, after all. 

They didn't even know Damien. 

They didn't even have his number. 

Was this what all high school crushes were like? Ridiculous and over-the-top and made you pine for someone who you barely knew anything about? Oz hoped not. 

They entered the library with the intention of making some money. Their scam emails had been doing particularly well for raking in some cash, as of lately. They almost out-right ignored the shouts and outrage that was clearly happening on the other side of the library from where they normally sat. They almost pulled out their chair and went to work without taking any further action to check on the demon making a scene and getting nasty glares from the librarian. Almost. 

Damien had been struggling with the video game he was playing, which meant he was shouting loudly just because of who he was, but also because the headphones he had on really made him oblivious to how annoying and loud he was really being. He was clearly going to get himself kicked out. 

It would have been easy to ignore him, but Oz really didn't want to. They wanted to be near him, next to him, _under_ him. Fuck, crushes were awful. Lust was awful. High school sucked. 

But Oz made the instinctive move to go up behind the demon and pluck the headphones right off his head. The Prince was immediately yelling obscenities and "what the fuck do you think you're doing"s before he realized it was only Oz. 

Damien still glared, though. "Ok, still, what the fuck are you doing?" 

The little monster placed the headphones on themselves and leaned down to rest their chin on Damien's shoulder. The two were practically touching cheeks they were so close. While Damien's eyes went wide, Oz focused on the screen ahead of them, trying not to melt into a dark puddle of nervousness as they put their arms around the Prince on either side to get at the mouse and keyboard. 

Damien barely noticed that Oz was incredibly good at the game he had been struggling so much with because he was all too caught up by the fact that they were basically hugging him from behind, the only real thing between them being the back of his chair. Unbeknownst to him, Oz was only so good because Brian and them had played over three hundred hours together when they were supposed to be studying for their Winter midterm exams. They then had to cram for the remaining two days, but it was worth it, in their opinion. 

Damien felt most emotions very intensely, and he was definitely having some intense feelings about Oz being so _so_ close to him. He could feel an odd buzz radiating off the little twerp's body, the same way heat would come off a human or the scorching temperatures of his own skin. 

It made Damien anxious, and he wasn't entirely sure why. 

Part of it was something Damien couldn't place. The other part of it was Oz's face and scent and tiny little fucking twink body being so goddamn close to his as they emerged victorious in that round of the game. 

What had transpired happened all too quickly for the demon to really process. He hadn't seen Oz since their last...encounter, and sure Damien had planned to see them eventually, but this was too sudden and out of the blue and Damien didn't even know how to react to Oz being so _bold._

"Let's go do something!" 

The words had escaped Damien's mouth without him meaning for them to or without him really even thinking about it. The headphones were taken off the little monster and placed onto the desk while Oz gave him a skeptical look. 

"Uh, for real. We should do something." 

Oz hadn't said anything and was just staring back at Damien like they were trying to figure out some different meaning or sexual invite that was hidden under Damien's words. 

"Me and Polly and Vera were playing Russian roulette –don't ask- and Polly lost so Vera and I split the winnings and as fucking rad as that is on its own, I think it'd be way more rad if I spent my new-found money on uh...some shit we could do? Together?" 

When Damien had started the story, he really hadn't known how it was going to end or really where he had been going with it at all. All he knew was that he had spent the better part of the last few days wondering if he'd ever get to chill with Oz again or if they'd ever fuck again and realizing he didn't even have Oz's number. 

_"What'd you have in mind?"_

The Demon Prince stood from his seat, collecting up his things with a hard look on his face that said he was genuinely considering what he was going to say next. Which didn't happen often. He met Oz's eyes once he was packed up and ready to leave. Oz decided that maybe it would be best if they ditched their library plans and did literally whatever the hell it was Damien wanted to go do. 

"I think I want to get out of this town." 

There was a sadness there that Oz didn't know how to place or really understand considering it was coming from the demon. 

"And maybe destroy some shit, first."


	7. Week 4, Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a bit of gore at the beginning of this chapter.  
> It's nothing too graphic but I figured I should give a heads-up about it, anyways. 
> 
> Also I drew some Oz fanart (with hints of Damien). I don't want to link to any of my social media, so here's a link to just the image itself https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiCgE6TXUAAp9Qi.jpg

The building walls exploded out and crumbled onto the city streets as Damien and Oz watched the scene from a block over. The fire spread throughout the building quickly as ash and debris rained down from above onto the people below. Some were running away screaming and some lay dead in the street. The two monsters sprinted on over to get the full, up-close view of the destruction they had caused. Damien stood proud on the sidewalk, gazing up at the burning building. He seemed to really be enjoying himself, so far, and Oz was happy to share that moment with him. 

Oz excused themselves to go "check out the damage on the other side", and Damien nodded in return. 

When the little shadow was sure that they were far enough away from the demon, they approached one of the almost-dead bodies of a victim caught underneath a large slab of wall that had exploded off. The human was barely holding onto life. But Oz had different plans for them, as they reached down to rip open the person's chest with the long, razor-like nails now protruding out of the monster's fingertips. They tore the person's heart out with a gentle hand, as to not get blood on their clothing, and held the organ delicately in their palms. The person's screams had quieted. 

With both thumbs, they dug into the centre of it, opening up a large, gaping wound. Black, voluptuous ooz that was the person's greatest fears poured out. Oz raised the heart to their formed mouth to feed. In the middle of the grotesque scene of Oz practically making out with a disembodied organ as they tried to suck the fear right out of it, blood covering their mouth, Damien chimed in. 

"Dude...what the fuck." 

Damien looked shocked when Oz caught sight of him and dropped the heart onto the corpse. It hit them and rolled onto the pavement. 

_"How long have you been standing there?"_

And just when Oz thought they needed to make a run for it and never cross paths with Damien again, the biggest fucking grin Oz had ever seen grew on Damien's face. 

"THAT'S FUCKING METAL!!" 

Before the little monster could process it, Damien was next to them, vigorously shaking their shoulders. 

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? THAT'S SO SO FUCKING METAL! DO YOU DO THAT ALL THE TIME!?" 

Oz began to melt into goop under Damien's grip, with the brightest blush on their face. 

 

\---- 

Oz was suddenly struck with a bout of nervousness at this idea of just going wherever Damien wanted. Although, they supposed it hadn't really let them down, so far. They only really started to freak out internally once the two of them were parking Damien's motorcycle in the back lot of a train station. 

"Bro, calm down." 

That didn't calm the violent shaking of Oz's body. 

"Dude. Fucking CHILL, ok? I'm not trying to abduct you," was all Damien really said as he dragged Oz behind him by the tiny wrist on their right arm, leading both of them into the train station. 

Oz tried to figure out what was happening but was pretty lost in the whole situation. Damien plunked down the money for two tickets onto the dingy counter. When Damien was asked what final destination he wanted, his eyes quickly scanned over the big bulletin board overhead. Oz hadn't heard of the place he said but figured they probably wouldn't be going all the way to the last stop, anyways. 

When Damien was waiting for the ticket counter person to give him his change, Oz was looking at the tickets trying to figure out what the stops in between were. They didn't get much of a chance before Damien was pulling them along, again. 

"Yo, princess, you gotta speed your ass up, a bit! Train leaves in 5 minutes." 

So, with Damien sprinting and Oz trying to keep up, they both managed to find where they were supposed to go, get their tickets scanned, and make it to the appropriate tracks with a minute to spare. Damien pulled the handle on the nearest door to the train and gestured for Oz to go ahead of him. 

They had to go down a whole car, but they eventually found their seats as the train was beginning to pull out of the station. Damien slid into the window seat, not even offering it to Oz. His kindness only extended so far. 

_"Hey, I skipped school for you. You could at least offer me the better seat."_ Oz's voice was kind and playful in Damien's head, though. 

"Hah! Is that supposed to be a big deal? I've gone to like four classes this whole term." 

_"For me it is."_

"Alright, nerd." 

The whole train seemed relatively empty, probably because it was the middle of the day on a weekday. Oz also assumed that their town and the next weren't very popular ones to travel to. They didn't exactly get many tourists in their town due to all the monster attacks. There were no other seats occupied in their car. 

The little monster tried to settle back into their seat, but the whole situation was just too strange. _"So...this may seem like a strange question and all...but why are we on a train right now?"_

"I told you I wanted to get out of this town." 

That really didn't lessen the amount of questions Oz had, though. They didn't even know where to start. 

_"Ok...and we couldn't have taken your motorcycle?"_

"Too much gas money." 

_"Isn't the price of two tickets by train probably more money?"_

Damien stretched out his legs as far as they could go under the seat in front of him and stretched his arms above his head. "Liiiiisten just shut the fuck up ok?" 

Oz shrugged. _"Alright."_

What felt like a long period of time passed. During this time, Oz realized that they were stuck on this train with a person they barely knew with relatively nothing to do. They were supposed to be a smart person. After they had had enough of staring at the back of the seat in front of them, they leaned into the armrest separating theirs and Damien's seat to gaze out the window. 

With their face so close, Damien decided to take that prime opportunity to lean down and peck Oz on the mouth area. 

"Alright, fine. Listen." 

Oz perked up because Damien sounded serious. They leaned back into their own seat a bit. 

"Like, where we live is fine and all, but fucking fuck dude, I've been going to that school for almost five years, now-" 

_"Wait, five?"_

"Ok so I failed a year alright not everyone can be as smart as you now shut up and let me finish" 

Oz decided not to add in that they had actually skipped a year and skipped another year at the school they went to previously. They figured it would be a mood-killer. 

"I don't know. I'm just sick of the whole thing." 

_"Of school?"_

"Nah, everything about where we live. Like yeah school's definitely the worst of it all but fuck dude I-" 

And then there was a long silence where neither of them said anything. Damien had definitely closed up and Oz decided not to push it. He was staring at his shoes with his fists clenched. 

He wanted to say he doesn't get along with his parents; that he doesn't really know where he wants to go after school; that he doesn't even feel like he should be graduating with the rest of them; that he feels like he's almost wasted the last five years of his life; that his body is always screaming wanting to tell someone all this and make it better, but he never does. 

And he didn't say any of that. 

Instead, he went with, "Just...there's other shit that sucks, too." 

Oz chose their words carefully, then. They didn't want to offend the Demon Prince, but some things just needed to be said. _"And you think living somewhere else will change any of that?"_

The demon's face showed he was clearly confused by Oz, like that was the dumbest question he'd ever heard. "Well, fucking yeah. Duh. All my problems are because of the stupid fucking places and people around me, so if I just eliminate all that, fucking light the whole damn town on fire and move somewhere else: problems solved."

_"Are you sure that's the problem?"_

His brows furrowed. "What?" 

_"Are you sure your problems don't have to do with you? If you just run away to another city, thinking you're leaving everything behind, you'll still have the same problems no matter where you go, if your real problems are with yourself."_

"Alriiight shut the fuck up!" The Prince threw himself against his seat and crossed his arms. "You're starting to sound like my fucking therapist." 

There was a beat of silence. 

_"You have a therapist?"_

"Ok, you know what, we're done talking about this. Fuck this conversation." 

And Oz dropped it all, despite having a billion more questions and still not really knowing where the fuck they were going. 

But before dropping it, they formed a mouth and leaned in to kiss Damien on the cheek. They thought it would be a cute gesture, not that they really thought Damien did "cute". 

When Oz pulled back, there was a moment where they just gazed at each other from their close proximity, the small monster just inches away from the demon's face, looking up at him with unsure eyes. 

But Damien wasn't one to let a good opportunity pass him by, so he met Oz's lips with his. He had a tight grip on the little being's sweater with both fists before either of them knew it. 

"You know, considering I kind of spilled my fucking dumb heart out to you a bit, you could at least try to reward me. It's not every day that I do that, ya know." 

But Oz already knew what he meant and was up out of their chair before Damien even finished his unnecessary statement. The demon tucked the leg closest to Oz in to let the fear monster get down on their knees in front of his seat. The space was cramped, but not enough to stop either of them. They both simultaneously, without saying it aloud, planned to make this work one way or another. Damien figured he could at least help them along by undoing his own pants. 

The Demon Prince was half hard when he took his cock out, but he was sure if he had to look at Oz's cute fucking face between his legs for too much longer, he'd be fully erect in no time. 

_"What if um...what if someone sees us?"_

"Well, then, fuck, we get kicked off. I don't fucking care right now. They can't kick us off in the middle of the fucking tracks, anyways. We'll at least get to our stop." 

Oz was relieved to know that they were only going as far as the next stop. 

Not that Damien was trying to be rude, but he was impatience as fuck, so he put a hand in the cute monster's hair and pushed them forward a bit towards his dick. Oz didn't need much more motivation. They unhinged their jaw and unraveled out a long, shadowy tongue that felt like velvet against the underside of Damien's cock. They enjoyed licking up and down his shaft as they got to watch Damien groan in pleasure in his seat, doing his best not to just push the whole thing down little Oz's throat. Self-control was not his strong suit. 

But they didn't leave the demon hanging for much longer, as they soon wrapped their lips around the swelling member in front of them, sucking gently to test the waters. After rolling the head around on their tongue, they moved back and removed it from their mouth. Damien was close to protesting when he saw Oz stretching out their mouth, the jagged teeth disappearing up into their gums. 

"Woah...you can do that?" 

Which didn't need to be answered, as Oz was back on Damien's cock in no time, swallowing the whole thing down with no teeth to get in the way. They bobbed their head at a progressively quicker pace, taking Damien all the way into their throat each time. 

"Ah fuck! If I had known that you...didn't have a...gag reflex –fuck!" 

Damien bucked his hips and grabbed ahold of Oz's head with both hands fisted into their hair, fucking Oz's face at his own, vigorously fast, leisure. There was no heat coming off of Oz, not that anything could have felt hot compared to Damien's blazing skin, but there was still the odd buzzing that came off Oz that still added it's own level of pleasure.

"...I would have been...fucking your face this whole fucking time..." 

Oz didn't know if Damien meant the whole train ride thus far, or the whole time that the two had known each other. Either way. The demon didn't even bother to try and stave off his release, coming down Oz's throat as much as he could, with reckless abandon knowing Oz probably couldn't choke at all. Although he secretly hoped Oz would choke a little. 

When the small fear monster pulled back and looked up at Damien for the first time since they had started, the Prince was panting in his seat, the tiniest of smiles on his face. After getting up and returning to their seat, and after no one had come around to tell them they were being arrested for public sex or public indecency or anything else they could have been pegged for, right then, a silence fell over the both of them. 

But only after Damien groaned out, "Thanks, Ozzie." 

And Oz found the nickname adorable. They tossed aside their own arousal when Damien laid his head on their shoulder. His hair smelled of ash and cigarettes and bonfire, and Oz was happy to nuzzle their own head into it. 

Before long, they were both asleep. They missed their stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized I totally forgot to add in the part where Oz takes their teeth out again and bites Damien's cock and Damien becomes very into that  
> oh well  
> i guess it can wait for a later chapter  
> i'll definitely have opportunities to put that in in the future


	8. Week 4, Continued x2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the apostrophes look a little strange this chapter  
> don't ask lol

Oz awoke feeling groggy and delirious. Their eyes were sticky and gooey and almost refused to open altogether. Everything seemed a bit blurry and they weren't entirely sure of where they were until their eyes adjusted and they saw their shoes and the back of the chair in front of them and overhead shelves with luggage. They were still on the train. That was good, probably. They had no idea how long it had been. There was a strange feeling of thirst that started in Oz's stomach and went all the way up to the back of their throat. They would need to feed again, soon. Oz hadn't realized how long it had been since they had fed until their body almost exploded with euphoria at the taste of their last meal that day. At least, they assumed it had been that day. They really didn't know what time it was. Or where they were. An uneasy feeling settled in Oz's stomach. 

They looked over to see Damien's seat empty. Their stomach sank, and their body began to shake as an anxiousness set in. But the panic only really began when the train started up. As the train shook to life, so did Oz. They looked up and down the aisle hoping to see someone they could question. They sat up on their knees and clutched the back of their seat as they looked down the train car. 

_Oh, good. I'm alone. I don't know where I am and no one is around and I have no idea where I'm going. Great. Oh fuck what if I die on this train and no one knows what happened to me and no one ever finds me again and Damien's already dead and-_

The car door nearest Oz slid open and Damien appeared. Oz's heart steadied and their vice grip on the seat lessened. They almost relaxed until they caught the annoyed expression on the demon's face. He was on his phone, clearly finishing arguing with someone. Oz barely caught any of the conversation, though, before he seemed to hang up on whoever it was. 

Oz was looking very spooked at both Damien and the entire train car when the demon finally made it over to their seats. "Woah chill, ok? I just went to get us return tickets." 

Damien flashed the tickets before shoving them back into his pocket. 

_"Return tickets? Return from where? What happened?"_

It almost seemed like the Demon Prince was going to ignore Oz's freak-out as he pushed past their legs to get to his seat by the window. 

When he plunked down, he spoke up, "Well, we missed our stop. I guess we slept for a long time." 

_"What? Where are we now?"_

"Final destination. Six hours away." 

_"SIX HOURS!?"_

"Yeah. Whoops." 

But Damien just crossed one leg over the opposite knee and settled in. He didn't seem bothered by the situation. Oz really thought he should have been. It was probably because he got blown and then got to sleep and knew what was happening, while Oz was still so desperately confused about what was even happening and still groggy from sleep. 

Oz was still trying to calm themselves down. 

_Please just stop shaking. You're embarrassing yourself._

_"Who were you talking to?"_

Damien huffed out his cheeks like a child and slumped down into his chair. "Ugh...um...one of my dads." 

Ok. The information shouldn't have been surprising. People talk on the phone to their parents, Oz assumed, but they still hadn't expected to hear that. They were also surprised at Damien's shitty ability to hold a conversation. It didn't cross their mind that Damien did not want to be having this conversation, really. 

_"You sounded pretty upset."_

"Well, I was supposed to have dinner with them tonight. 'As a family', or whatever." 

_Fuck._

_"Oh...um...I...I'm so sorry you missed that..."_

"Tch, no, it's cool. I planned on missing it anyways." 

Should Oz even ask? Was it too personal? Oz figured, no, it wasn't too personal. They could still taste Damien's cum on their tongue that was no longer there and they had spent the last six hours on a train together. That was personal. 

_"Um...you were planning to miss having dinner with your family?"_

"Yeah. I don't really get along with them. It`s whatever. Don`t ask." 

Oz started piecing it together, but not fully. 

_"Is that why we're on this train ride?"_

"Yeah." 

When a while passed of Oz just watching Damien stare out the window, they felt their eyelids grow heavy from boredom. An eternity of silence seemed to settle over them. Oz considered checking their phone but worried it might be too rude in this situation. 

Damien's voice startled them back to reality, when they thought they might genuinely fall asleep again. "I used to uh...kinda throw a lot of fits when I was younger. I didn`t have my license back then, but I could buy train tickets." 

The demon continued his act of not looking at Oz but trying to make it seem like he wasn't trying to not look at Oz. He had his chin in his hand and his arm on the window sill. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. 

_Or maybe he's just hoping that a chasm will open up and rip through our reality and suck us both in so we don't have to have this weird conversation in this weird situation for the next probably-awkward six hour train ride back,_ Oz thought, staring at their shoes, again, trying not to stare at Damien. 

"So I used to uh...take the train to the next town over. It was nice to just not fuckin' be home for a bit, just go wherever I wanted, ya know?" 

A secret little part deep down inside of Oz wanted to say it was ironic that Damien didn't like cowards, and yet it seemed he was always running away from his problems. Or at least the problems he couldn't punch to death. But Oz knew better and kept their mouth shut. That would be too far. It wasn't their place to say, even as a joke. 

_"Yeah, I mean...I kinda get it."_ They weren`t sure if they should try to relate to Damien or just listen to what he wanted to say. But they ended up adding, _"Sometimes I just like being alone. My friends are great but I just...prefer my space. Prefer being alone. It`s hard because we all live under the same roof. There are four of us split into two bedrooms. Sometimes it`s really suffocating."_

"So where do you go, then?" 

_"Uh...well, it depends. Sometimes going outside during the day by myself can make me really nervous, so I just stay home and..."_

"Suffocate?" 

_"Yeah."_

From there, not too much got said for a long time. Oz looked around the train for a clock or a map or both. Eventually they spotted both behind them at the end of their car on a TV screen. Only two hours had passed, from what they could tell. They didn't think they would be able to make it. 

\---- 

After so much time, too much time, Damien shrugged off his jacket and pulled a deck of cards out of one of the pockets. 

"Anything in particular you wanna play?" 

They played Crazy Eights for a while, as per Oz's suggestion. Damien wasn't the best at it, but he still sat through a few games nonetheless. Oz realized he was just not very good at figuring out how to strategize at it, so after so many games, they figured they should recommend something else. They offered to play War, instead, and Damien's eyes lit up. 

The good thing about War is that each game usually lasts a very long time. They played several games, and that definitely helped the time pass. Eventually, Damien put his cards down on his fold-out tray and pushed Oz's hand of cards down, too. They were pulling into a station. 

_"Are we there already?"_

"Nah." Damien gestured out the window with one hand. "This is the town, though." 

Oz gazed passed Damien's hand at the view. A portion of the town was visible through the trees, despite the sun almost having fully set. To them, it looked like any other town, maybe even similar to the one they already lived in. But still, they imagined it must have meant something to Damien. Something different. 

_"You come here a lot, eh? Or at least...used to?"_

"Yeah. A fuck-ton. Almost every week, back then. It's been a while since the last time, though." 

Oz smiled to themselves. _"You must have thrown a lot of fits, then."_

"Yeah." Damien nodded as the train started up again. "I haven`t changed much." 

There was a sadness there, but Oz didn't comment on it. 

\---- 

When they made it back, it appeared to be the dead of night, and Oz imagined they must have been on the last train. They stepped out of the station together into the pitch dark. Oz remembered then to check their phone. They realized they must have turned it off when they first went out with Damien in the afternoon, and never turned it back on. It took a moment before it sprung to life again, but soon the bright glow was illuminating their small spot in the dark parking lot. 

00:51. 

_"Fuck,"_ they whispered out, staring at the screen. 

"Yeah, sorry man. Hope you didn’t have plans tonight." 

_"Don`t worry about it."_

All the messages started flooding into Oz`s phone as it connected to its service and WiFi. While they both were mounting the motorcycle, Oz noticed a bunch of texts from Brian and about 50 missed calls from Amira. They would be pissed. Well, Amira would be pissed. Brian would just be worried. They pocketed the phone without responding to any of them. It wouldn't be long before Oz was home, anyways. 

When Damien first offered Oz a ride back to their apartment, they protested a bit. 

"It's the least I could do." 

It was interesting, or maybe just weird, to see Damien being a gentleman. But Oz pushed those thoughts aside and focused on giving Damien directions every now and then. Being on the motorcycle didn't scare them as much, anymore. Most of the initial anxiousness was gone. 

Oz realized then that they much preferred to ride at night. They liked how peaceful everything was but being on the speeding bike didn't seem as scary when there weren't so many other people around. They thought they finally understood the appeal of it. It was nice to just be a passenger, taken wherever Damien wanted to go. Now they had a destination in mind, but Oz imagined it would be great to just ride, their arms wrapped around Damien's waist, for miles on end. To anywhere. 

When the motorcycle pulled up to front of Oz's building to let them off, Damien looked disappointed, but Oz couldn't pin-point why. 

"Sorry for keeping you out so late." 

_"It`s ok. To be honest, I much prefer to be out at night. The dark is...comforting, I guess."_

"I`ll keep that in mind. But still like...sorry if I ruined your evening or something." 

_"No, I..."_ Oz stopped to think about their words. _"I still had a good time, all things considered."_

And they really meant it. 

Sure, things could have gone a lot better but...it hadn't been a total waste. 

_"Thanks for driving me,"_ was really the only thing Oz had left to say before they figured things would get awkward. 

They turned to go inside, ready to leave Damien at the curb. 

"Woah uh, wait!" The demon's voice brought Oz to an abrupt halt. "I forgot to ask before, but we should swap numbers." 

A blush rose to Oz's face. They couldn't have agreed faster. They gave each other their phones and put their numbers in. 

That alone seemed to make the whole ordeal worth it, to Oz. 

Damien didn't voice it, but he felt the same. 

The demon looked like he wanted to say something else, but didn't. Instead, he drove off, motorcycle noises still heard even when he was no longer in sight. Oz was left standing there in the darkness, watching as he disappeared around the corner. It could have been ten seconds or ten minutes, of Oz just looking out into the dark of night, standing on that street corner. For the first time in a while, they felt genuinely happy. 

They had mostly forgotten, at one point, that they were just standing in front of their own apartment building, not going inside. That is, until Amira poked her head out of her bedroom window to shout down at them. 

"Yo! Where the hell were you!? Were you out with your boyfriend this whole time!?" 

Oz ran inside faster than they ever had before, mainly out of sheer embarrassment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter might take a little more time than the usual 1 - 2 days, because i know everything that's going to happen i'm just...not entirely sure how to transition from this to all that, yet  
> i've got some ideas on how, but...i'll figure it out  
> There are definitely still like...10ish chapters to go? I don't know entirely for sure, yet. bare with me
> 
> thank you for reading! stay tuned xoxo


	9. Week 4: End, Week 5: Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this one. I had some stuff going on this weekend.  
> But, to make up for it, this chapter is pretty much twice as long as most of the previous ones.  
> It's a little...weird tho  
> But I had a lot of fun writing it, so I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless

Oz spent every second after getting into their apartment building thinking about if they should text Damien or not. It would be weird, right? To text him pretty much immediately after they parted ways? Oz figured, yes, it would be weird of them. But it didn't mean they didn't think about it. Actually, it was all they had thought about since they had watched Damien round the corner on his motorcycle and they had gone inside alone. 

Oz briefly thought about what would have happened if they had invited Damien inside. 

It never would have happened, since all their friends were home. But it was still a pleasing thought to have while it lasted. And as far as their friends went, they had immediately grilled Oz when the little monster had entered the door. Amira had spent the first few minutes yelling at Oz about how worried they had them, following Oz around as they went to get a drink out of the fridge and wash their face in the bathroom. 

Oz, for the most part, said nothing. They knew Amira just needed to get it out of her system, and there was nothing Oz could say that would cool her down, especially with Vicky in the background hyping her up. So they just listened to her yell for a while, until they eventually had to change into pajamas, and Amira didn't follow them into their bedroom. 

While pulling off their sweater, Brian looked up at them from his place on the bottom bunk of their bunk beds. He didn't put his phone down or get up, but he did fix Oz with a soft but concerning look. 

"We were worried about you." 

_"I know. I'm sorry."_

Brian didn't bother saying anything else to Oz about that, knowing full well that Amira had already said what needed to be. 

"So, who's the guy?" 

_"How'd you know it was a guy?"_

"I heard Amira yelling down at you from the window. I think the whole neighbourhood did." 

Oz squirmed into a big t-shirt. They wanted to curl up into it and never come out, in that moment. 

_"He's just some guy."_

_...For now._

After finally climbing up to their bunk, Oz flopped down onto their back, exhausted. Despite sleeping on the train, their jitters were at a high for so many different reasons. They were emotionally drained for the day. Brian got up to turn the light off, casting them both into darkness. When Oz pulled out their phone and held it above their head, the light almost blinded them, but they had to check. They needed to see if it was real, if they really had Damien's number, or if the whole thing had just been a strange figment of their imagination. 

With confirmation that they, indeed, had Damien's number now in their possession, Oz eventually typed out "Hey, hope you got home ok". They immediately regretted it though, thinking it sounded stupid or that at least Damien would think it sounded stupid. So, they backspaced over the whole message and said nothing. 

\---- 

For a little while, neither of them said anything to each other. The texting barrier was a difficult one to break. They didn't really talk, and when they did it really hadn't been very casual. But eventually, Damien gave into the temptation. 

**11:54 Damien: Yo, what up?**

**11:55 Damien: Can u believe im actually in class rn?**

**11:55 Damien: I can't fucking believe u go to this shit willingly**

**11:56 Damien: Im so bored i could fucking kill everyone in this room**

**11:56 Damien: And then still be bored after**

When Oz first got the message, they were backstage at the theatre. Their heart practically slammed into their chest with each beat. Damien was texting them. It was nice, for a moment, until Oz realized that the demon was looking for some entertainment. Or to hear about something cool Oz was doing, which was nothing. Nothing had happened in the few days they had been apart. Absolutely nothing. Oz quickly thought about just how little they did on their own when their friends were busy. 

**12:01 Oz: Hey.**

**12:01 Oz: Sorry, I'm in theatre rn.**

**12:01 Oz: Class isn't that bad.**

**12:01 Oz: It makes me feel like I'm good at something.**

**12:01 Oz: Or like**

**12:01 Oz: Something that sounds less depressing than what I just said.**

Oz was ready to bang their head against the wall. 

_What the actual fuck kind of conversation skills do I have? None?_

**12:03 Damien: LOL nah its chill**

**12:03 Damien: Maybe i could**

**12:03 Damien: Excuse myself from this class and u can meet me in the washrooms >;p **

**12:06 Oz: ...I'd love to. But I'm on in the scene after the next**

**12:07 Damien: Fuck. Well alrite**

**12:08 Oz: At least it'd be easier for us to meet up, now**

**12:08 Oz: Now that we have each other's numbers, I mean**

**12:08 Damien: Ya, fuck, ur a smart person. Y didn't u think of this b4?**

But, oh, Oz had thought about it before. Over and over and over and over again. 

**12:10 Damien: We should do smth tonite**

And Oz's heart sank. Seeing Damien again would have been great. But a different urge inside them was much stronger. It outweighed all else: the urge to feed. 

They needed sustenance. 

They needed a victim. 

It was a compulsiveness that started somewhere deep within Oz, somewhere they couldn't pin-point. It made their heart beat faster and made them strangely energetic. Not in a good way, but in an anxiety-riddled way that left them bouncing off the walls. It made it hard to sit still or keep a clear head. There was a constant, slow TV static in Oz's mind. But when they needed to feed, that static was cranked up to max volume, and it felt like they could barely think over the blaring noises of the void. 

It was never a fleeting thing. 

It started slow and built until Oz couldn't take it anymore. 

They thought they would be fine for a while longer, having fed not too long ago, but Oz was wrong. Once they had had a taste of fear, it was all that they craved. 

They needed more. 

**12:15 Oz: Sorry. I can't.**

**12:16 Damien: u got smth better to do?**

**12:16 Oz: ...Yes.**

To say Damien was a little jealous would have been an understatement. Oz was being so vague and clearly not saying what they were doing on purpose. It bothered Damien that he was some noob's plan B. It bothered Damien even more that something that stupid bothered him. 

**12:17 Oz: I'm sorry.**

**12:17 Damien: u goin out?**

**12:17 Oz: Yes.**

**12:17 Damien: When?**

**12:18 Oz: Tonight.**

**12:18 Damien: Ya, I got that much, dumbass, i meant WHEN tonite**

**12:18 Damien: We could do smth when u get back**

**12:18 Damien: Fuck nos im up till all hours of the nite**

**12:19 Oz: I won't be back until late.**

**12:19 Oz: Very late.**

Oz felt bad about the whole situation. But it was embarrassing to feed. It was shameful, to them. Plus, Damien didn't really know what it was like for them; what it was _really_ like. It was easier for them, and probably for Damien, if the demon remained as ignorant as possible about the whole thing. 

It was so much easier to deal with these things alone. 

 

\---- 

Oz ended up where they normally did when the urge to feed became unbearable: a club. The lights were seizure-inducing and Oz was pressed up against some stranger. The music was probably shaking the room. Oz could only tell because of the way it shook their insides. They could barely hear it over the static in their head. 

The guy who had quickly taken a liking to Oz was fitted right up against the little monster's back. When Oz rubbed their ass on the stranger's crotch to the beat of the music, the guy had his hands on them immediately. It was easy for Oz. Too easy. 

When Oz had hit puberty, they had grown considerably. They lengthened out and their skinny physique had gotten lankier. But their shoulders filled out a good amount and so did their ass. They knew their form and small frame made them a certain "type". They usually found themselves being the youngest and skinniest in a group. But it meant that they were an easy target for people who were into that type. Which Oz had absolutely no problem with. In their more recent years, the little monster had become ever-increasingly horny, no matter how much their urges were satiated. They swore it must have been a curse. 

So, going to a club to find a victim killed two birds with one stone. 

Oz quickly texted their friends saying they would need the apartment for the night. They all knew what that meant, by now. The guy Oz was bringing back only knew the half of it. 

But Oz would make it good for him. It was the least they could do. 

And when all of it was over, Oz would get what they _really_ wanted. 

Standing over some stranger's lifeless corpse, after just having sex, wasn't supposed to feel that good. But it did. 

 

\---- 

Damien planned to do what any jealous person would do. Actually, he hadn't planned it at all, but more-so just showed up at Oz's place out of impulse, "very late". Most people normally made time for Damien if they knew what was good for them. He was not appreciating being turned down. He didn't like being someone's second option. The demon didn't stop to think about the fact that it was perfectly fine for someone to be _his_ plan B, but not the other way around. 

**3:23 Damien: yo**

**3:25 Damien: im outside ur place**

Oz almost couldn't believe it. At least not until they stopped dragging the dead stranger's body through their apartment to go run to the window in the girls' room. And to Oz's shock and horror, there was Damien, with his motorcycle parked, standing at the curb out front. The little monster ducked down under the window, only the tips of their hair showing above the window sill, which weren't visible at all in the dark. 

**3:27 Oz: Why the fuck are you here?**

**3:27 Damien: Uhh maybe bc u said u'd be out till late**

**3:27 Damien: So i came late**

Oz tried to stiffen up and calm their shaking shoulders. It didn't help. 

**3:28 Oz: No, I mean, why are you here at all?**

**3:29 Damien: Wow ok wasnt expecting such harsh treatment, princess**

**3:29 Damien: Im here so we can fuckkk**

**3:29 Damien: Duhh**

And fuck, if Oz wouldn't have loved to read those words literally any other night other than that night. They put their head in their hands, but only until their phone buzzed again. 

**3:32 Damien: Or we can go do smth**

**3:33 Damien: If u want**

_Cute._

**3:33 Oz: I just**

**3:33 Oz: I have a situation, right now.**

**3:36 Damien: Ok spill**

**3:36 Damien: What is it**

**3:36 Damien: im not gonna sit out here all nite**

**3:38 Oz: I killed a guy.**

**3:38 Damien: Haven't we all**

**3:38 Oz: No, like I JUST killed a guy.**

**3:38 Oz: I'm trying to get him out of my apartment right now.**

**3:40 Damien: boo i gotchu**

**3:40 Oz: No**

**3:40 Oz: I don't need help.**

**3:41 Damien: Too bad**

**3:41 Damien: ill meet u out back**

Oz wanted to say that if Damien really wanted to be of any help, he would help Oz carry the dead guy down the stairs, instead of just waiting outside. But they didn't. In all honesty, they weren't very heavy for Oz while the little monster was in their feeding form. 

When they finally pushed the exit door open with their back, carrying the man with both arms, Damien looked nervous. Which was something Oz thought they would never see. 

_"Is something wrong?"_

Other than the whole dead guy situation, of course. But Damien hadn't seemed bothered about that, at all. 

"I just...forgot you looked like that." 

It took a moment for Oz to really get what the demon meant. They rarely saw their own reflection while they still looked like they did, right then. The mouth and its razor teeth Damien was more than comfortable with, already, but the rest was probably still a lot to take in. Their hands extended longer than normal, their knife-like claws out. Their normally cute, white eyes swirled into two, large, white, endless voids that flickered like static. Their joints bent out in broken ways, and they were bonier than normal. The little phobia friends that usually sat on Oz's shoulders like good little buds were horrors with gaping mouths at Oz's feet. 

When Oz spoke into Damien's head, deafening static accompanied the voice and made it almost unbearable to hear. 

_"Sorry."_

A nervous smirk worked its way over Damien's face. "Nah, nah, it's rad as Hell. I'm just not used to seeing you like this. You're fucking scary. Which really just makes the whole thing even cooler." 

Damien winked and seemed to go back to his normal, aloof state once Oz was at his side and he was almost certain Oz wasn't going to kill him, too. The little eldritch abomination seemed to take the lead, so Damien followed. They worked their way over the fence surrounding the perimeter, passing off the corpse to each other. The night was otherwise quiet, with only faint voices heard in the distance. The neighbourhood was eerie, and the Demon Prince imagined Oz liked it like that. Damien counted four fences they ended up going over, until scuttling paws could be heard over the next one. 

The fence in front of them was much higher, and Damien was prepping to get a running start when Oz pulled at his jacket sleeve. They had a different plan. The demon helped Oz up onto the garage they were standing next to, before passing the body up and climbing up himself. The garage roof wasn't exactly comfortable with the rough shingles that clearly hadn't been redone in fuck knew how long. But Damien understood once he noticed that the garage looked over the neighbouring fence. Four, large hellhounds stalked around the adjacent backyard. 

_"Hey boys. Miss me?"_

Oz was answered with a few low growls that shook the earth below. With one rough hand and long claws, Oz gauged out the corpse's arm from its shoulder socket. 

They spent some time feeding the body to the dogs, throwing pieces down to them. 

"Wasn't expecting this to be where we would end up when I decided to come over." 

_"Sorry."_

"You say that a fucking lot. And it's fine. I wasn't complaining." 

And he meant it. 

While breaking the fingers off the guy's left hand one by one, Damien didn't look at Oz. He just threw one of the digits to the dogs. "So, why'd you bring this guy home to kill him?" 

_"I slept with him."_

A pang of jealousy shot through Damien. Fuck, being clingy sucked. But he sure as Hell wasn't going to show it. Plus, he had to admit, the murder part was hot, and made him inclined to forget about the whole sleeping with some random guy when Oz had Damien, the perfect fuck buddy. The demon didn't understand it, but he wasn't going to judge so quickly. 

"Wow...that's fucked up. You killed him after sleeping with him, or you slept with him just to kill him. Either way...that's fucking hot." 

But when Damien finally threw the last finger to the dogs and looked over at Oz, the little monster was hunched over. Their eyes were downcast and somber. More than they usually were. Damien really didn't get it. 

Once the dogs had devoured the last of the guy, they were set to head back. Damien hadn't expected things to turn out that way, but he wasn't displeased. He then had Oz all to himself. But the eldritch abomination still looked upset. Their eyes stayed on the pavement they walked on as they both headed up the path alongside Oz's building. 

"You seem kinda down, dude. You alright?" 

There was a silence. 

_"I enjoy sleeping with them. The victims, I mean. I really do."_

And another silence. 

_"But I mainly do it because I feel bad about killing them."_

And another. A longer one. 

_"We're all monsters,"_ Oz began, walking Damien to his bike. _"But it's different to kill for vengeance or battle or because you think someone really deserves it. But I have to do it just to survive. I try to make it people who are on the brink of death, already, but that doesn't always happen."_

They both paused at the curb. Damien was confused. He didn't know many monsters who gave a fuck about this kind of thing. And the ones who did were weak and were the first to die. 

_"Sometimes I have to kill people who I don't even know. I try to at least give the person one last good night, but..."_

And Oz all but collapsed onto the sidewalk, making a seat for themselves on the roadside. Their hands were shaking. Damien squinted down at them. 

"Soooooo you feel bad about murdering some random dude?" Damien didn't understand that for a second. Who the fuck cared about that? 

_"No,"_ Oz shook their head, dropping it into their hands. _"I feel bad because I don't feel bad at all."_

Instead of remaining towering over Oz's little body, Damien crouched down and sat beside them, his feat scrapping the pavement of the road when he adjusted. 

"What the fuck does that even mean?" He hadn't meant it to sound so harsh. That was just how everything he said sounded. 

_"I SHOULD feel bad for murdering people. I should. It's wrong. It's entirely wrong."_

If Oz could cry, they would have been. But rather, they put their chin in their hand, and stared off at the road, the apartment complexes across the street, anything but Damien. 

_"But I feel nothing. I should care about their life. I should be disgusted when I rip open their chests; when I tear out their hearts; when their blood runs down my hands and face. I shouldn't be so happy just to feed. I should be sickened when the life drains from their eyes while they lay cold in my hands. But I feel nothing at all."_

And Oz finally looked at Damien. 

_"So, I feel bad about not feeling bad about it."_

Damien's left eye twitched and he felt the need to ball up his fists. "Alright, I still don't really fucking understand that last part, but that shit you said before it was _fucking_ hot." 

Oz's mouth dropped open, not even bothering to try and hide their shock and awe. They didn't care if they looked stupid right then. They felt stupid. 

_"B-but isn't it bad that I'm a heartless killer?"_ They paused. They realized Damien was also a murderer, and that maybe that statement alone wouldn't get their point across. So they elaborated. _"Isn't it fucking awful that I was literally born from darkness and death itself? That I feed off of other people's darkest, most horrible fears?"_

Damien's mouth curled into a snarl as he grabbed both of Oz's arms with a rough grip. It was Oz's turn to be terrified of the other, staring at him with fear somewhere deep in their void eyes. 

"NO, DIPSHIT. WHAT PART OF WHAT I SAID DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND." 

He shook Oz with each word for extra emphasis. He was so mad he could have smashed Oz's head into the sidewalk. 

"THAT'S. FUCKING. HOT." 

And weirdly, Oz felt very accepted. And very vulnerable. And a little smitten. 

They probably shouldn't have. 

But they figured they could get used to Damien's company. 

Damien's weird company. 

Damien's weird, murder-fetish, angry, rage-filled, kill-lust company. 

But that snarl didn't leave Damien's face, even as he leaned in and his voice was heavy, and Oz didn't understand why, for a moment. 

"So, you planning on killing me, too?" 

Oz gulped, squirming a bit in Damien's tight grip. 

_"N-no, of course not."_

Damien looked down at them, eyes skeptical, with heavy lids. 

_"I mean...I've thought about it. A lot. But I-I won't! I swear!"_

But Damien's voice only grew heavier and rougher as he leaned in more to snarl, his teeth up against Oz's neck, his body burning. "Well, even if you did, I'd just go right back to Hell, anyways." 

Nails pushed into Oz's arms, and both Oz and the little phobias' grew wide-eyed. 

Oz felt a buzz start up in their body, making its way from their toes up to their head. 

"We might have to try it sometime." 

And Oz was pretty sure, given different circumstances, they could have fallen in love right then. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY AM I LIKE THIS


	10. Week 5, Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the beginning is a play on the in-game banana scene  
> i wanted that scene to go over much differently, so i made it happen
> 
> this whole chapter is just me having some nice times because i'm having a peaceful early morning while writing this  
> that's it, enjoy!

Sun rays were just coming up over the glass on the third floor. Oz was seated at one of the library computers mining for bitcoin. It was a good hour before any class was set to start. They had already been there for a good thirty minutes. The money was a good incentive to get them up early and "working". 

There was screaming in the hall outside. Which would have been just like any other day had it not been so early. For the most part, Oz ignored it. They turned the volume on their music up, headphones in, and let the sweet guitar of _Metric_ 's new song, that it was much too early for, drown out the noise. It wasn't until the yelling escalated enough that Oz's headphones proved useless against it, and flames briefly glowed in the hallway, that Oz decided to log out. 

They were either going to go check on the commotion or stay the hell away from it and avoid the situation altogether. They weren't sure which, yet, although the latter seemed a lot more appealing this early in the AM. 

But either way, they shouldered their bag and headed for the door. Their legs felt more and more like jelly the louder and closer the yelling got. 

They did not like yelling. 

Or screaming. 

Or loud noises in general. 

They had enough of that in their own head. 

But their nerves were calmed a bit when they rounded the corner to see Damien in the hall. They had no otherworldly idea what the demon could possibly be doing at school so early. Oz was about to step closer and ask, when they slowly registered what was happening and what Damien was actually saying. 

And they almost couldn't believe it. 

_"A-are you...yelling at a banana?"_

At the sound of Oz's voice suddenly in his head, Damien whirled around on his heels to glare, harder than he already had been. 

"Yeah, is there a fucking problem with that?" 

_"It...depends."_

The demon advanced quickly, startling Oz. They took a few steps back when he got up into their face. 

"Listen, this FUCKING THING thinks it's all that just because –what? It thinks it's fucking higher in potassium than me!?" Damien gestured wildly at the banana in his other hand. 

Oz, in that moment, wasn't entirely sure if this was real life and not a very realistic fever dream. 

_"Um...what?"_ Despite the confusion, Oz closed the gap between them to pluck the fruit from the demon's hand. They stared down at it, perplexed. 

"Like what the fuck does it even think it is? Thinking it's better than me!?" 

Oz barely even registered Damien's yelling, anymore. They were fairly certain the demon had lost his mind. Or that his anger might have been misplaced, and he was taking it out on a banana, since it was probably what he had had in his hands at the time. 

There was a moment where Damien was ranting about the piece of fruit, but Oz could barely hear him. He was just in the background, drowned out, while the gears in the little monster's head were turning. 

They slowly brought one edge of the peel down. 

At some point Damien stopped screaming, probably once he had realized Oz had peeled the banana most of the way down on all sides. 

"Uhh what are you doing?" 

Oz tilted their head. _"So, you're jealous of a banana?"_

"What?" Damien squinted his eyes. "No, I'm not fUCKING JEALOUS! It just thinks it's better than me!" 

_"Really? By what standards, again? Potassium?"_ They moved their eyes from Damien to the yellow fruit, eyes half-lidded. 

"Yeah, like yeah fucking right it is-" 

_"Does it taste better than you?"_

Damien hadn't even grasped what Oz had said when he muttered out, "Huh?" 

_"I said I wonder if it tastes better than you."_

So, Oz, standing in the middle of the hallway, formed a mouth and engulfed the banana in their mouth entirely. They were thankful barely anyone else was around, or this would have been a lot more embarrassing. And would have only gotten worse. 

They pulled back but didn't break any off or eat any of it. Rather, they slowly ran their lips along it while pulling it out of their mouth. 

"What...what the fuck are you doing?" 

When Oz had pulled the entire length of the fruit out of their mouth, they placed a sloppy kiss on the tip of it when it came out of their lips. 

_"Maybe it's just because it's been so long, now-"_

Their long, shadowy tongue rolled out and slithered up the sides of the fruit, which Oz clutched delicately with both hands at the base. 

_"-and I can barely even remember what you taste like-"_

Oz's teeth extended, sharp as razors. The little monster grazed them up the length, leaving sharp, deep lines in the soft banana. 

_"-but I'm pretty sure this banana tastes better than you, too."_

There was silence as Oz pulled away from the fruit. 

Until the demon let out a low growl that quickly erupted into a roar that echoed off the walls. 

Damien snatched the banana out of Oz's hands and whipped it at the ground. It exploded outward and pieces of banana flew onto both walls and ceiling. The peel and remnants of the soft inside were smooshed against the floor. 

The rage that emitted from Damien could be felt. 

Or maybe that was the scorching temperatures of his skin, that were at an all-time high, melting the tiled floor beneath him. 

He was visibly shaking. 

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK THAT WAS, BUT IF YOU WERE TRYING TO MAKE ME JEALOUS AND HORNY, THEN YOU FUCKING WON, OK!?" 

Damien's hands were on Oz wherever he could grip them fast enough. He pushed and shoved Oz around in front of them, leading them to the bathroom, only to force the little monster onto their knees in a stall. 

"You just trying to make me jealous?" 

He pulled Oz back by the hair, making them look up at him. 

"If you wanted my dick down your throat so badly, you could have just asked for it." 

The demon let out a low chuckle, equal parts rage and amusement, as he undid his pants. 

"Or maybe you wanted me to force it down." 

Oz placed their shaking hands against the hard tile on the floor that was already hurting their knees. They looked up at Damien with the cutest, heavy-lidded eyes they could muster. They opened their mouth wide and nodded. 

_Fuck._

 

\--- 

Damien strutted out of the washroom, forgetting to hold the door open for Oz who stumbled out after him. Oz finally let embarrassment sink in now that there were enough students in the hall giving them judgmental eyes as the two exited the washroom together. Beyond that, none of them seemed to care. But Oz did, now. 

"You know what we should do?" 

Oz assumed, as Damien leaned up against the row of lockers just outside the door to lazily grin at the little monster, that he wasn't really looking for suggestions. The look in his eyes said he already had something in mind. 

"We should go drink." 

Oz blinked a few times. 

_"It's eight AM."_

"So?" 

_"What bar is open at eight AM?"_

Damien seemed to be briefly considering his options, before turning quickly and walking away. Oz assumed they were meant to follow him, but they weren't entirely sure. Not until they both reached a locker one floor down. 

The demon popped the lock open on it after quickly turning the dial to the combination. When he yanked the door back, Oz really wasn't surprised at the contents of the locker. Damien grabbed a bottle of whiskey from within. It was the only thing in there other than a bunch of crumpled up papers at the bottom that the bottle had been sitting on. 

Damien slammed the door shut and clicked the lock closed. He twisted the cap off the bottle with ease and the seal broke. He took a shot, or rather he guesstimated at an amount close to a shot, and offered the bottle over to Oz. 

They weren't entirely sure how to break the news to Damien that they could not get drunk. Even if they drank the whole bottle, their body could not process alcohol, and it would only evaporate into mist once it made it past their throat. They were about to protest the offer before stopping. 

Instead, little Oz reached into their sweater to the pocket sewed onto the inside. From within, they retrieved the tiniest bag filled with even smaller mushrooms. Damien gave a smirk and a laugh as Oz tossed one into their gaping mouth that appeared and disappeared just as quickly. 

"Hah! Whatever works for you, dude." 

Oz was sure Damien thought they must have been shrooms. Which, they were, but not the kind Damien probably assumed they were. They were from a world Damien could not have comprehended, glowing a purple colour that was really a colour Damien's eyes could not process or understand. 

But they worked to get Oz high. Or at least, Oz's equivalent to high. 

When Damien lead the way out of school, Oz didn't protest or complain, and didn't ask where they were going. There was really no point, anymore, and Damien would just keep on his way no matter what Oz said. 

They passed by many students making their way into school as the two made their way out of it. From a distance, leading up the steps of the main entrance, they caught sight of Vicky. She also noticed them, and only gave them a thumbs up and a wink. She was a terrible influence. 

As colours got brighter and sounds got fuzzier to Oz, they both made their way down the street. 

_"Why were you at school so early?"_

Damien took another swig from his bottle, surprisingly good at not spilling it while drinking and walking. Oz assumed he had had a lot of practice. 

"I had detention." 

_"I thought you planned to never go again?"_

The demon kept his eyes forward, looking off at something. "Yeeeah, well, that WAS the plan. Until the school called my fucking dads and that plan went up in flames real fucking fast. And not in a good way." 

The demon had lead them to a park near-by. He opted for climbing onto the big hammock-like swing made from netting that was far off from where kids were playing. The children still stared at the two as they got onto the swing together, but eventually lost interest. 

Damien pushed off the ground with one foot, making the hammock gently swing from side-to-side. Oz wasn't about to tell him to stop, even though their world was already spinning enough as it was. 

Oz stared up at the stars in the sky, which weren't really there, and voiced how pretty they looked. It warranted a laugh from the demon. 

The conversation died for a while. The only sounds were the high voices of children playing close by, birds in the distance, and the soft slosh of liquid every time Damien drank. 

_"So what happened with your dads?"_

"Huh?" 

_"The night you missed dinner with them because we fell asleep on the train. What happened?"_

The Demon Prince let out a loud, robust laugh. "Wow, you really know how to kill the mood, Ozzie." 

_"One of my many talents."_

"Well," he leaned back into the hammock, closing the distance between them, "they were both pretty upset at me, but not more than normal." 

_"I'm guessing you didn't care?"_

"Good guess. But yeah, more-or-less. They're always disappointed and I'm always a disappointment. That's just how it is, baby." 

Damien was smiling but Oz couldn't imagine why. It didn't seem like a smiling-matter, to them. 

_"Couldn't you just...stop being a disappointment?"_ Oz never would have said it in their right mind. 

"I could, but then I wouldn't be me." 

_"Have you tried?"_

"I've tried enough." 

Late-Spring sounds took over and the rest of the morning was peaceful. Damien drank half his bottle and Oz let the world be drowned out by an insane buzzing noise as they watched the world around them glow neon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the calm before the storm
> 
> also i hung out with way too many boys like Damien in high school  
> this chapter is definitely not based on experience  
> not at all


	11. Week 5, Continued x2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this might be the longest chapter so far

The living room table in front of the TV stand was covered in junk food, fitting for the genre the gang had chosen to watch. Season one re-runs of _Married at First Bite_ , the reality TV show about bitten victims being immediately married to the vampire who bit them for six weeks and seeing if they want to stay married by the end of it all, were playing. Thursday night was always trashy TV night. It had become something they could all bond over. 

Reality TV had been Brian's guilty pleasure, and Vicky and Amira's open, well-known pleasure. Oz didn't really understand most of it, or why people were so invested in it, but they were happy to spend the time with their friends. And maybe the trashy dating shows were starting to grow on Oz. Maybe. 

All the snacks that were laid out Oz couldn't consume, but they were content with simply passing the chips around between Brian and Amira. They also found a lot of fun in throwing the occasional chocolate ball into Vicky's waiting mouth from across the couch. Oz was seated nicely on the left side, upright and proper, with Vicky taking up the rest of it, splayed out with her feet up on Oz's lap and her head on the right armrest. Brian had found a comfortable spot on the floor, leaning up against the couch just to the left of Oz, occasionally leaning into Oz's legs. Amira had the big armchair all to herself. 

While the ending credits began to roll across the screen, Vicky spoke up. "Alright, so it's less than two weeks 'till prom, now. Everyone know who they're asking out?" 

She sunk further into the couch with a wink, her arm thrown over the armrest her neck was resting on. 

Oz and Brian visibly shrunk into themselves, Brian trying to avoid the question altogether by hiding behind Oz's legs. It really didn't do much for him, considering how thin Oz's legs were. 

Amira let out a hearty laugh at all her friends' behaviour, especially Vicky's. "Hah! Girl, we all know you're asking Scott and just want an excuse to brag about it." 

The pyro girl rolled her eyes, but it was all in good fun. They all knew she was going to ask Vera, and it was only a matter of time before all four of them would have to spend more time with the gorgon herself. 

Vicky and Scott had seemed like the perfect couple from the start, and Vera and Amira were quickly growing ever closer to one other. Oz would occasionally catch sight of the two couples in different locations around the school. They always seemed like such good matches for each other; classic high school sweethearts. Although, Oz supposed, Vera and Amira were a little more complicated than that. But either way, Oz was ecstatic for their friends' new-found relationships. 

There was the occasional underlying hint of envy within Oz, but it was always short-lived. Being alone would always be their preference. No matter what. 

Vicky threw back, "Says you! You practically flaunt how often you and that gorgon go out to the club and those weird business parties she's always invited to." 

"Well, yeah, obviously. Who wouldn't want to flaunt that they were going out with someone as _awesome_ and fucking _gorgeous_ as Vera?" Amira had a glare in her eyes but a smile on her mouth. 

In the background, which Oz and Brian were still trying to blend into and hopefully remove themselves from the girls' conversation, the next episode was starting up. The opening theme began to play. Vicky stretched herself out as far as she could, pushing Oz around underneath her, to extend a leg out to prod at Brian's head with her foot. 

"What about you, Briaaaan? You decided on someone?" She pushed a socked foot against his temple. 

It almost seemed like Brian wasn't going to answer, as he continued to pile chips into his mouth and avoided looking at the others. 

But between a mouth-full of crunch, he managed, "I have...a couple of options" 

All three of the zombie's friends oooo'd in unison, the girls out loud, Oz in their heads. 

Vicky nudged at his head with her foot, again, harder this time. "Well, well, well, when did you become such a plaaayboy?" 

Brian couldn't help the blush that rose to his face, or the best of a blush his undead body could muster. 

Oz couldn't help the giggle that escaped into the others' minds when Brian mumbled out, "M'not a playboy..." 

And for a moment, Oz really thought they had forgotten about them. That they were safe. But Amira turned her attention to Oz once they had all fallen silent. Her mouth opened, and Oz prepared for the worst. They had never liked the spotlight, and it was about to get shone right on them with a question they knew they couldn't answer just yet. They wanted to say they were going to ask Damien. 

They would have liked to say that. 

They would have _loved_ to say that. 

But they couldn't just yet. 

They wouldn't get their own hopes up. 

But before Amira could even begin to press Oz with the same question everyone else had already been subject to, or at least bring up the topic enough that Vicky would bug the little fear monster about it, Vicky chimed in with, "Alright, alright! Everyone shut up; it's starting!" 

The next episode was commencing, and Amira let Oz go. For the time being. 

When everyone had finally settled down again and focused on the screen, Oz's phone buzzed in their pocket. It was subtle enough that only Brian, who was still leaning into Oz's legs, noticed. His head titled back, eyes fixed on their small buddy when Oz pulled out their phone to check what the notification was. 

**11:25 Damien: yo what up**

Hearing from Damien was becoming more of a pleasure. But unfortunately for Oz, the demon always seemed to have the worst of timing. There was no way they were going to tell Damien what they were _actually_ doing right then. No. It was too embarrassing. 

**11:27 Oz: Nm. Just out with my three roommates rn.**

****

****

**11:27 Oz: I mentioned them to you before, I think.**

A moment passed as Oz kept the phone in their hand. They awaited Damien's response while still trying to watch the start of the episode. But Oz's content mood was suddenly ruined. 

**11:28 Damien: Uhh ur fuckin lights r on**

****

****

**11:28 Damien: so either ur place is gettin jacked or ur lying**

Shit. 

\--- 

When Oz told Damien to come up, they were fucking nervous. They had to admit that, yes, they were actually home, and that, yes, Oz had lied about being out. Worse, Damien was going to actually see what they were up to, and Oz was preparing to be mortified. 

Oz lifted Vicky's legs up off of them to stand. They buzzed Damien up and their friends all looked over in confusion. 

Vicky titled her head upside-down over the armrest to ask, "Is someone coming over?" 

_"Um...sort of."_

They really hadn't planned anything. They didn't even know why Damien was coming up. They didn't even know why they had agreed to this when they could have just met Damien downstairs. But worse, beyond any of that, their friends would meet Damien, and Damien would meet their friends. There was the possibility that the gang had already met Damien at school, but this was something else all-together. This was meeting them as a group, in their apartment, with Oz in the room. Inviting Damien up was practically admitting that they were more than acquaintances that hung out sometimes. And knowing Damien, as little as Oz did, he'd probably be crude as Hell and their friends would know they were fucking. 

It wasn't exactly a secret. If their friends had asked, they would have told them. But this was too abrupt. Oz barely had enough time to catastrophize as much as they had wanted to in their head when there was a knock at the door. Oz braced themselves for the end when they opened it to Damien's waiting scowl. 

But that scowl quickly shifted to a look of surprise, as he looked down at little Ozzie. His mouth then grew and blossomed into the widest, most shit-eating grin Oz had ever seen on the demon. 

"Cute PJs." 

Two words. And that smile of his. That was all he gave. But it was enough to make Oz's legs wobble and make them stutter into nervous laughter and want to curl up into a hole and die when the fear monster realized they were still in their pajamas. 

_Kill me, kill me, kill me..._

"Those shorts are the best part," Damien chuckled, as he let himself in passed Oz to make his way around them to check out their outfit. They were wearing their usual home attire –a big, loose, white t-shirt that may or may-not-have belonged to Brian, and pajama shorts that may or may-not-have been snugger than anything they would have worn outside the privacy of their own house. 

_KILL ME, KILL ME, KILL ME-_

"Yo, Oz, who's this?" Amira cut off Oz's incessant catastrophizing. 

Their friends were all looking at Damien. And Damien was looking at all of their friends. And Amira knew who the fuck Damien was. At very least, she had seen Oz with him outside their apartment that night. They silently cursed her. 

_"U-um...well..."_

But before Oz even had the chance, the demon was walking his way passed Oz and over to the living room set-up. He briefly inspected all the junk they had laid out and their arrangements, before locking onto the TV set. 

"Aw, fuck! This show is fucking _awesome_!" 

No one else in the room could believe those words had come out of Damien LaVey. Even if the friends barely knew or didn't know of Damien at all, they looked him up and down and could not put together that someone who looked like Damien and talked like Damien _actually_ watched _Married at First Bite_ , of all shows. 

Vicky sat up. "Wait...really? You actually like this show?" 

Oz was pretty sure Damien was fucking with them. They were 99% sure it was all just a joke- 

"Uhh, YEAH. Nothing is more hardcore than love! And putting monsters through emotional distress on camera for the sake of putting their potential love to the test is _way_ fucking metal." The demon crossed his arms and his stare on Vicky was unrelenting. 

He was dead serious. 

After moments that felt like eons, Oz crept over to the Demon Prince, set on getting him and their friends apart as soon as possible. They only saw this arrangement going badly. 

_"Um...so what's going on?"_

Damien looked over and down at the little monster as though he had forgotten they were even there. "Huh?" 

_"You..uh...why were you outside?"_

"Oooh, right. Well, I wanted to go do something, if you were down. Or uh, plan A was to come up here, if you were alone." He side-eyed Oz's friends. "But if you're busy, then..." 

Amira quickly chimed in before Oz had the chance. "Nah, nah. We've already watched like 5 episodes tonight. Oz is all yours if you wanna take them out." 

Oz wasn't sure how to feel about Amira pawning them off without Oz even saying they wanted to go out with Damien. But obviously they wanted to go out with Damien. And with the perfect out, they were saying _"Great, thanks, we'll be out of here before you know it!"_ and pushed Damien into the room they shared with Brian. 

The demon didn't like being pushed around, and he voiced as much. But Oz just pushed him harder and shut the bedroom door behind them. 

_"I just need to change."_

Damien had already made himself perfectly at home, pulling out the office chair that had been nicely tucked into the little desk by the window and slumping down into it. 

"Why? I'd be fine with you going out just like that." 

That grin was back, and Oz couldn't help their blush or the fact that they were so _fucking uncomfortable_ under Damien's stare. Or anyone's stare, for that matter. And Damien couldn't stop his grin even if he had wanted to and couldn't control the way being in Oz's room felt perfectly normal despite it being such a foreign place, or the fact that Oz's little shorts were driving him more than a bit crazy. 

"But whatever. Change if you want to. I wanna go bar-hopping, so hopefully you've got clothes for that. I said we'd go out drinking, and I'm fucking holding us both to that." 

Oz had no fucking idea what clothes one wore to go bar-hopping. _"Yeah, I'm sure I can find something appropriate."_

In the midst of pulling a few things out of their dresser, trying not to think about how Damien wouldn't stop staring at them, they asked, _"Uh, did you have a place in mind?"_

They heard the chair creak and groan and assumed Damien was leaning back in it, even though they weren't looking at him and just wanted to focus on getting some clothes, any clothes, out that might have been even remotely appropriate. 

"Yeah, there's one place I wanna start. It's fucking sick and it's downtown near a bunch of other bars. It'll be a good place for us to start, but I need to look up directions. What's your WiFi password?" 

Oz fumbled with the clothes they had pulled out, stuttering. They explained that the password was written down somewhere and was some jumbled mix of numbers and letters that they had never changed. 

_"You can just use my laptop. It'll be easier that way."_

"Yeah, sure. Whatever works." 

The little monster retrieved the laptop from their top bunk and handed it over to Damien after typing in their password. They were still shaking, but less-so. 

The entire time Damien had been in the room, he had been inspecting his surroundings. He really had had no idea what to expect when he first came up to the apartment. The whole place in general had seemed pretty standard for a bunch of high school monsters. It was kept decently clean but every so often there would be piles of trash that hadn't been dealt with. Damien had first noticed it when he peaked into the kitchen as he was being pushed into Oz's room. The countertops were sparkling clean but the dishes in the sink were overflowing. In Oz's bedroom, it was hard to tell what actually belonged to Oz. With two bunks, Damien only assumed that they shared the room with someone else. But he kept fixing his eyes on the tiny horse miniatures that lined the window sill. They had looked familiar, reminded Damien of something, but he couldn't place them. 

Oz left Damien to go change in the attached washroom. When they had shut the door behind them, they let out a shaky sigh. A lot was going on all of a sudden, a lot that Oz never could have planned for. They had tried to pick out clothes similar to what Damien had been wearing, hoping that would be ok, but they really didn't own clothing like that. They hoped that whatever they came out in Damien would be fine with. 

They pulled on a white t-shirt that actually fit them, actually belonged to them, while worrying about what their friends were thinking right then. They wondered if Brian might have thought the two were hooking up in their shared bedroom. They wondered if they should text Brian to tell him that that was not what was going on. They wondered if even that would be a beyond-socially-inept thing of them to do. So they focused on changing clothes. 

Oz pulled on a pair of black jeans that were ripped at the knees. They only owned them because Brian and them had seen the pair while out at the mall, and he had said they might be cool for Oz to try out. Oz had never worn them, not even once, and they were sure that the jeans were going to rot away at the bottom of their dresser. They were very happy to have bought them, now. They also pulled a black sweatshirt on over the t-shirt. Oz did not wear sweatshirts. They had worn it literally once and decided that the rose detailing down the sides of the sleeves was definitely not for them. 

Their whole outfit was definitely not for them. 

But it was what they went with. 

The little monster exited the washroom, happy to have that ordeal over with. They were still worried about five hundred thousand other things, namely if Damien was going to make fun of their clothes or say it wasn't something one would wear to go bar-hopping in. But they tried to push all that aside. 

When Oz opened the door and threw their clothes up onto their bunk, Damien pocketed something. It had been one of the little horses on Oz's window sill that he had been inspecting. He hadn't meant to take it, but he had had it in his hands when Oz came out, and hadn't known what to do with it. He sure as fuck didn't want it to look like he was snooping around Oz's stuff. Even though that was all he had been doing. 

To his relief, Oz hadn't even noticed. They were too busy trying to be inconspicuous and not draw attention to them or their clothing. 

_"Did you, uh, find the place?"_

"What? Oh, yeah, I did. I took a photo of the directions, too. You'll have to be my guide while I'm driving, so make sure you don't fucking drop my phone." 

_"Sure. Yeah...of course."_

Oz wanted to leave. They wanted to get out of this whole situation. But Damien was leaning back in the office chair with something on his mind. It was obvious. He wanted to say something. Oz could tell. 

They let an awkward air take over the room as Oz stood there, waiting for Damien to say something, or even better, get up so they could leave. And Damien sat there, smile working at the sides of his lips, almost as if he was trying not to laugh. Oz couldn't imagine why, though. 

At least, not until Damien finally spoke up. "So...crying, eh?" 

That smile was really desperate to break free on the demon's mouth, pulling and twitching. 

Oz only tilted their head. _"What...what are you talking about?"_

"Dacryphilia? That's what it's called, right?" 

It took a moment for the gears in Oz's head to start turning. They didn't know why Damien knew what that was, or what that was called, or why he was bringing it up. But Oz sure knew what it was. And then, suddenly, something clicked in Oz's brain. 

_Oh my god, oh my god, oh my fucking god-_

_"Wh-...h-how do you know what that is?"_

"Dude, the first most-visited site on your Google Chrome is _'Crying Lovers'_." 

And finally, Damien let that smile go, stretching from ear to ear on his face. 

_This can't be happening, this can't be happening-_

Oz froze in place, legs threatening to give out underneath them. That forum. That stupid fucking forum that Oz spent so much time on, that they never told anyone about, not even Brian. That stupid fucking fetish they wanted to never tell anyone about –that they thought would die with them. That stupid stupid stupid fetish that was meant to stay a secret and never see the light of day and was supposed to be Oz's thing and Oz's thing alone. It was only ever supposed to be Oz's little stupid secret. 

And Damien was killing himself laughing in that office chair. 

Oz swiveled around on their heels, mortified. 

Visibly shaking. 

"Dude, dude, it's fine." 

Damien was beside them. They didn't know how long had passed or how long they had just been staring at their bedroom wall, trying to crawl inside themselves, but now Damien was stood beside them. 

The demon slapped a hand onto Oz's back. "Just chill. Everyone's got their weird shit." He said it like it was just that simple. Like that's all it really was. Like it was that easy. "It's just fucking funny that you left that shit on your fucking Google homepage, AND just handed off your laptop like it was no big deal." 

From the tone of Damien's voice, Oz was sure he was still smiling, taking this all in stride. 

"You're such a fucking idiot," he stated with a chuckle. 

"A really cute fucking idiot," he stated, voice lower, leaning down with the intention of kissing Oz. 

But suddenly, his hand that had been clutching Oz's shoulder was now empty. The washroom door slammed shut. Damien stood there blinking, alone in Oz's bedroom, as the little fear monster curled themselves into a ball on the washroom tile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crying Lovers is an actual forum. You should check it out if that kind of thing interests you
> 
> The next chapter will pick up right where this one left off  
> and if the crying fetish bothers you, you need to leave now because that may or may not be brought up again later in the future  
> also keep the little horses in mind, because that's going to come up again, later, too
> 
> EDIT: I have no idea how long this story is gonna be. It might be 20 chapters like i had originally thought or it might be 50 chapters who the fuck knows anymore


	12. Week 5, Continued x2 Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the title of this chapter is ridiculous but oh well  
> also this one is short and dialogue-heavy  
> my apologies

Oz laid on the cold tile for an inordinate amount of time. They were in their own head, trying to disappear out of the world around them. After several minutes, they weren't doing anything except staring at the strange swirling patterns of the tiles, wondering how good it would feel to blend into them and swirl away into nothingness. They felt nothing and thought nothing, except a small pit in their stomach that was a mixture of embarrassment and dread. They briefly considered leaving. They considered jumping out the window and never coming back. Or least, waiting until Damien left to come back. And maybe even waiting until their friends left the next day for school. Or waiting until Brian would call them and tell them to come back. One of those. They also considered escaping to the void, leaving this world and _never_ coming back. They wondered if that would be too dramatic. 

Outside, in Oz's bedroom, Damien stood, pressed against the washroom door. He couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, understand what went wrong. 

He was just fucking around with Oz. 

Hell, he had his own weird-enough fetishes. Most monsters did. 

He really didn't understand what was going on. 

But he could still tell he'd fucked up. 

It was a familiar feeling. Like most interactions he had at school or at home. Somehow, he had fucked up. His dads would be yelling at him or his therapist would give him that knowing look or his ex-girlfriend would be staring at him from across the room with disbelieving eyes, and he'd know he had fucked up. Even if he didn't understand how or why, he at least knew that much. 

Occasionally he'd bang a fist against the door, rattling it and the walls and everything in the room. 

"Just fucking get out here, already! It's _fine_!" 

He just wanted Oz to come out. He just wanted them to calm down. Anything was better than their current situation. But it really didn't help him any that he didn't know how to be helpful and didn't know how to not be angry, all at the same time. 

And every time he banged on the door or yelled, Oz curled a little bit further into themselves, not hearing a word he was actually saying. They just stared further into those swirling tiles. 

When Damien finally lowered his fist and turned around, Brian was sitting in his bottom bunk. The demon didn't know how long the other boy had been sitting there, or when he'd come in. But he was there, now, staring at Damien with dead eyes. 

"So, what did you do?" 

The question was simple enough, and yet Damien still didn't know how to answer it. 

"I don’t _fucking_ know! They're just being dramatic and sensitive. I didn't fucking do anything." 

"Did you hit them?" 

"What? Fuck no! That's not what this is!" 

The demon was furious at the accusation. He wanted to pick up the zombie by his collar and beat the shit out of him. But some little part of him was telling him that would make things so much worse. It was enough to keep the Demon Prince on his side of the room. 

His shoulders slumped as Brian sat there silently. The zombie was just sitting there, hunched over on that bunk, staring. It was unnerving and annoying at the same time. But he didn't appear mad. And Damien really didn't understand. 

The demon made a noise of disgust and continued to ball and un-ball his fists. "I just don't know what to do. They're not even listening to me." He gestured wildly at the washroom door, as if Brian didn't know who he was referring to. 

There was a moment of silence. 

"Maybe you should go." 

And then another. 

" _What?_ " 

"Oz needs their space. They need to calm down. They're never going to do that if you don't stop yelling." 

"How the fuck am I supposed to stop yelling!? I don't know what else to do!" 

"I don't know. Go to therapy." 

"Listen you fuckin-" 

"Just get out." 

"No! _Fuck_ no! I fucking started this so I'm going to fucking end it! What am I supposed to do? Just walk away?" 

"Yes." 

"NO!" 

Brian began to rub his temples, the only move he had made since sitting down. "You don't even know how to fix this." 

"So fucking tell me." 

"Why? Just go find somebody else to fuck for the night." 

"Don't fucking tell me what to do-" 

"Alright. You wanna fix this? Go home. Go home or go anywhere else. Just let me deal with Oz." 

"But-" 

"You don't even know them." 

And Brian was right. Damien didn't know a fucking thing about Oz or what was happening or how to deal with the situation or how to deal with _most_ situations. 

It would have been so much easier for Damien to have left. He could have gone home or gone out by himself or called up a friend and had the night he had wanted to have. But instead he sat down on the floor in front of Oz's washroom door and crossed his arms. He puffed out his cheeks like a child and stuck out his tongue at Brian. 

And he waited. 

 

\--- 

Being alone in Oz's room felt strange. It was different than before. Before, when Oz was with him, he was in Oz's room; he was an invited guest; he felt like he belonged there; like he knew what could happen. He'd been in the same situation enough times before. It either lead to fucking or leaving. Now, neither seemed like a viable path he could go down. Now, everything felt foreign; he didn't know what to do or what he _could_ do. 

Damien, in his boredom, checked his phone and looked around the room. He couldn't make many assumptions when he wasn't sure what stuff belonged to Brian, who he guessed was the other person whose room it was. After sending off a few replies to people, he eyed the little horses on the window sill, again. He swore they looked familiar. 

The washroom door he had been leaning against opened ajar. 

_"Are you still there?"_

It startled him enough that he dropped his phone and swore. 

"Of course I fucking am." 

But it was harsh and sounded threatening and Oz went to shut the door, again. 

Damien stuck his hand between the gap, just in time, and kept it open. He winced at the sharp pain of having his hand crushed, 

"No no dude it's ok. Like...I don't really know what I did but-" 

_"You're an asshole."_

"I know! I know I am but you could just fucking tell me _why_?" 

_"Because!"_

They took a shaky breath, white eyes glowing in the darkness of the washroom. Damien didn't know when they had turned off the light, but they had. 

_"That was _my_ privacy."_

"But-" 

_"And even if you had seen it, you shouldn't have thrown it in my face..."_

Damien sat up on his knees and pushed into the door as much as he could. He was surprised at the force that pushed back against him. 

"But it's fucking FINE! I don't even care about it; I wasn't actually making fun of you!" 

_"It doesn't matter."_

Oz didn't know the words to describe how they felt and how they were. They were a private person, about a lot of things. They couldn't just say whatever was on their mind about anything out loud like it was no big deal, like Damien could. 

_"Somethings I prefer to keep to myself."_

"But you don't _have_ to keep them to yourself. You can fucking talk about it if you want." 

_"But I don't want to."_

Damien moved his face closer to the gap in the door. He was surprised when Oz didn't move their face away in response. Instead, they kept still, eyes glowing in the darkness, hands shaking as they gripped the wood of the door, and their gaze fixed on the floor. 

"So? What? You're just gonna hide behind your computer about it? Never talk about it?" 

_"That's the point. Talking about it online is enough for me."_ The little fear monster paused. _"Just seeing that other people feel similarly. That I'm not crazy. Or if I am, at least there are a bunch of other people who are, too. That's enough."_

Damien breathed out a heavy breath he didn't know he had been holding in. He was close enough, then, that it's heat spread across Oz's shadowy skin, tingling on their face. 

"You're wrong." 

_"And I think you're wrong."_

 

\--- 

Oz had no intention of going to school the next day, but Brian had convinced them otherwise. Something about 'avoiding your problems doesn't make them go away' and they hated when Brian was logical. They were supposed to be the smart one, and yet, lately... 

Even as they sat at their desk, they felt as though they shouldn't have been there. Everything felt foreign and strange, and their chair felt as though they had never sat in it before. Everything the professor said sounded distant and Oz couldn't focus on a single word. 

When movement to the side of them caught their eye, they noticed Damien sitting down at a desk. They did their best to not look at him and focused their body forward. They wondered if Damien was actually in that class and never went, or if Oz couldn't recall him being in that class because he wasn't and had just decided to roll in, now. 

When a balled-up piece of paper landed on Oz's desk, they just stared down at it for a long time. Damien wondered if they would never open it. But eventually, they did. 

The message was simple enough, just three easy words. 

_Are we ok?_

The little monster rubbed their thumb over the words instinctively, not thinking about how it may have looked to the Demon Prince. They felt their stomach turn and then returned to feeling nothing at all. The urge still came over them, though, to write 'NO' in heavy pen scratches across the message and throw it back at Damien's face, but they opted for doing otherwise. Although, they did consider it for a moment. 

Instead, Oz opted for the much more dignified approach of walking up to Damien with wobbly legs and shaky hands. They marched right up to him, barely inches between them. They couldn't muster up the courage, though, to look Damien in the eyes when they shouted, _"You're still an asshole,"_ in his face. Maybe throwing the note would have been a better idea. 

And yet the demon just laughed and the heat coming off him made Oz slink back into themselves. 

"I know." 

Oz was pouting but Damien couldn't see it except for the uneasiness in their eyes. 

"So I'll take it as we're not ok?" 

_"We're not terrible. We're not not ok. We're just...not great, right now."_

"I'm sorry." 

_"That doesn't make everything better."_

"Come over." 

Oz wasn't quite sure they had heard him correctly, if at all. 

_"What?"_

"It always fucks up when I come over to your place-" 

_"Maybe because you never say when you're coming over-"_

"So come over to my place." 

The look in Oz's shy eyes must have given them away. 

"For real. I'm serious." 

That mixture of embarrassment and discomfort in their stomach that they had been feeling for the last twelve hours, for their entire life, hit their metaphorical heart. Oz turned their head from staring down at Damien's boots to look out the window. A storm was coming over the horizon. 

_"I have to think about it."_


	13. Week 5 End, Week 6 Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is short, but the next one, and maybe even the one after, are probably going to be very long  
> a lot has to happen in the next chapter pray for me

At the start of the weekend, the forecast called for rain. A risk of rain meant cloudy skies and dark days for early summer, and fog at dawn. And it all reminded Oz of _home_. 

They were excited about it, to say the least.

Or maybe excited wasn't the word, as Oz hadn't felt any strong emotion for as long as they'd lived, other than the intense anxiety that brewed inside them like storm clouds over the ocean. They were _content_ about it. 

But risk of rain had been an understatement. 

It had poured all weekend, starting right after school had ended Friday afternoon, and continued even into late that Sunday night. Oz stood at the counter, folding shirts and t-shirts and assorted pants while Brian was by the machines putting another load of laundry in. A Sunday trip to the laundromat was Brian and Oz's main time together. It was only every other week, but it was enough for them. It was some of the only time the two got to spend alone. Most of the plans they ever made together included their two other roommates, after all. And as much as they loved each other, and although they shared a room, they both needed their space. They both needed their time alone. 

Especially Oz. 

Their phone had been buzzing in their pocket on and off all evening and into the night. They were sure it was Damien, but they never checked or even looked at their phone. They just focused on the cycle of folding shirts and pairing socks together, staring off at nothing. Brian barely said a word and Oz was as quiet as ever. 

The gloom that hung in the air outside clung to everyone in the neighbourhood, and they brought it into the laundromat with them. Everyone was somber at the downpour happening outside, coming in soaked from rain. The heavy rainfall hitting the concrete echoed in the room, coming in through the barely-open windows. The whirring of the laundry machines reminded Oz of the void and sounds of their own mind. It was all very comforting. 

Brian approached them to help fold some of the clothes. He hoisted himself up to sit on the countertop and grabbed a pile of socks to sort through. 

"So." 

_"So."_

"You really like that guy?" 

_"I'm not getting my hopes up, if that's what you're asking."_

"But you like him." 

Oz didn't say anything. They didn't know what they possibly could have said. They didn't know how they felt. They never did. 

When the clothes were done, the two did their best to not get everything ruined in the rain outside. Brian held his jacket up over Oz and the two baskets of clothes they carried to the car. It was a struggle, but they managed. Oz shut the back door to the vehicle after setting the clothes in safely and Brian made his way around to the other side to start the up the car. 

For a moment, too long of a moment, Oz stood out in the rain. They stared up at the pitch-black sky of night and the rain soaked them. It was cold for early Summer. The rain turned into a downpour and Oz's eyes weren't really fixed on anything. The laundromat's back parking lot was empty except for them. No one wanted to park in the back alley. Oz felt alone out there, despite Brian sitting in the car. It was quiet except for the sounds of rain and an eerie feeling settled over Oz that made their skin crawl and an emptiness settle into their chest. It really felt like _home_. 

Their yellow sweater soon became heavier and heavier on them the wetter it got, and Brian was staring at Oz from the driver's seat. He was trying to figure out what Oz was looking at, but to no avail. He assumed they were staring at something that wasn't even there. When he finally turned the car on and the headlights came up, Oz startled to life and scurried into the passenger seat. 

Raindrops hit heavy on the windshield. The buzzing of Oz's phone was loud in the otherwise silent car. It was all a soundtrack to disaster and Oz knew it. They knew if they looked at their phone it would be Damien. 

And it would have been so much easier for Oz to have ignored it. They should have gone home with Brian and back to their friends and forgotten about the Demon Prince. Because as much as they adored Damien's _body_ and his _mouth_ and running around with him the way only mischievous high school students could, he was bad news. 

Oz tried to stay in the present, they really did. But they couldn't help think into the future; think of Damien going off to lead his own life with the confidence Oz would never have. They thought of Damien leaving them behind. They imagined how easy it would be for Damien to coast through life with the same carefree attitude he already displayed when it came to serious issues. They thought of Damien going off and not caring what would happen to them because, hell, they weren't even _together_ and Oz didn't know why they were even thinking about any of this. Because the two of them weren't together and they wouldn't be. 

Damien was _anger-management issues_ and _over-bearing masculinity_ and confidence and prowess and _popular_ even if it was for all the wrong reasons. He was loud and insensitive. And Oz barely knew him, but they could tell he had issues and Oz could barely deal with their own. It would have been so much easier to keep Damien at bay and not start up something that didn't need to be started. It was the end of high school and they could go off after the next week and never see the demon again and nothing would change. Damien probably wouldn't even remember them in a month's time, maybe less. 

But no matter how hard Oz tried to rationalize that continuing this was a terrible idea, they wanted it. They wanted Damien and his issues. They wanted the rage and the terrifying personality that it created in the demon. They wanted the weird parental issues and the fuck-it attitude that Damien exuded. They wanted the sex like they'd already had it but also the sex they imagined they could have. And even if it didn't last after high school, they still had one week left and they wanted it all. 

They wanted Damien. 

 

\--- 

The demon laid in his bedroom, under strict house arrest that weekend. Which, in his own opinion, fucking sucked and was dumb as Heaven because there was only one week of school left. It wasn't like keeping him inside was going to help him focus on classes or get his grades up or anything. The damage was already done, and besides, he was graduating this year. He was finally fucking graduating and that was glorious. His dads didn't particularly show an immense amount of enthusiasm at that, since he _should have_ graduated the year before. 

But either way, he was happy. Things would be better once high school was done with. He was sure of it. He'd finally have his freedom and that was all he really wanted. To do whatever he wanted and be unabashedly himself. 

After throwing a fit about not being able to go out that night, he'd lit the main floor foyer of the castle on fire. Not that it particularly did much, since most parts of Hell were surrounded in fire, but it was the point that counted. He had also been texting Oz all weekend, and the little dweeb had yet to respond to him. He still texted them periodically throughout the evening, though. Secretly, he was getting a little desperate. He barely even knew Oz, and most of the times they had hung out things had gone sour somehow. But it didn't stop him from wanting to try again and again. 

Damien knew his good qualities, his _great_ qualities. He knew he was attractive and it had always been easy for him to get partners. And he wasn't afraid to admit it, or even brag about it. But Oz and him had had a pretty rough track record, so far, and yet the little noob still kept hanging out with him. Either he was even better at making out and fucking than he thought he was, or Oz was...well he didn't know what Oz was. But they were unusual, to say the least. 

He threw himself down onto his bed, after that, and decided he'd just wait out the night. His house arrest would be lifted once Monday rolled around. 

But as he laid on his back, something was digging into his back pocket. He pulled it out and was faced with the little horse he had taken from Oz's room. Damien decided it looked out of place without the other three it had been sitting with, and that's when it hit him. The little, different-coloured horses were meant to replicate the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But even with that realization, he couldn't figure out why Oz would have had them in their bedroom. He doubted Oz was into the Bible, and if they were, he'd make sure to fuck that right out of them. But he was sure they weren't. So really, he didn't know what the fuck to make of it. 

He held up the little horse between his thumb and index finger, watched its pale colour almost glow a sickly green. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of what was happening just outside of his window. The sight of what was happening up on Earth reflected in the sky above Hell. It was still raining, heavier than he'd ever seen it. He hated rain, and if it continued into tomorrow, he'd be sure to stay home from school. It looked gloomy and gross and the demon preferred not to be out in that sort of weather. Water was a real pain in his ass, and the way rain made the world look was just fucking depressing. 

His phone buzzed on the bed beside him, then. He titled it in his direction, not actually bothering to pick it up off the duvet. 

**1:15 Oz: Hey, I'm free pretty much all this week.**

**1:15 Oz: If you still want me to come over, just let me know when.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really talk about myself much in these notes, but there's a quick story i wanted to tell because i've never actually told anyone about it, before, and it was actually what inspired me to put the horses in this story, and yes they will still come up again, later. And maybe one of them will be important.
> 
> When I was about...12 or 13, I was at this camp for a few days with my whole grade. It was sort of at this ranch-type place that stretched over a huge plot of land, and was pretty far up North. The main area had all the cabins and the main hall, but all around it was just miles and miles of grass and forest. It was actually kind of creepy because it was very nice like spring weather but all the trees didn't have leaves and were all just these huge, dead husks of trees. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but now...
> 
> Anyways, one of the many things we got to do there was ride horses. The horses were all very nice and they were all this dark brown colour and we would ride them through the creepy forest and at the time it was just a lot of fun, even though I wasn't like a huge fan of horses, and was a little nervous about riding one.
> 
> But every morning that we were there, I would get up early (6 AMish) and when you're 12/13 no one else is getting up at 6 AM. But it would be just after the sun was rising and I would go running across the site. So I'd leave my cabin of 6 or 7 girls and I'd run out through the grass and down the deserted roadside and down to where the horses were let out into the this big field. It was so quiet out and there was always this really thick fog in the morning, but it made running very peaceful. Even at the time, though, it was pretty creepy just how quiet it was and how secluded the place seemed.  
> But I'd run down to where the horses were, basically away from civilization because we were already in the middle of no where and I was running out into this huge field surrounded by forest. There was a wooden fence around the field that was only two wooden bars high and barely came up to my collar, and I'd always get up and sit on it when I was as far out as I could comfortably go, and I would pet whatever horse would come up to me.  
> And I just remember seeing all the horses walking far away and I was just having a good time just petting this one that came up to me. And then I saw, farther off in the distance, a horse that was an unusual colour, unlike any of the others. It was out there with all the others, and none of them seemed bother by it, but I was. 
> 
> It was a sickly pale green, almost translucent colour, and I remember immediately feeling like I needed to go back to my cabin. It was a weird feeling of fear that I had never felt before. I wasn't really afraid of anything, until then. It made my limbs weak and it started this feeling of dread in my heart. It was just the weirdest feeling of knowing I needed to get out of there. And every time it looked over at me it had these eyes that were black like voids and it unsettled me enough that I ran back to my cabin, and didn't go running again the next morning.
> 
> At the time I didn't think anything of it. But after that day, I've always had this constant, lingering feeling that I was going to die. And I'm not afraid of dying, at all, and yet I still always felt that way after that day, even if nothing is happening and I'm not even doing anything. A lot of weird things started happening in my life after that. Things I and everyone around me can't explain.
> 
> I'm convinced I saw Death that day. 
> 
> Anyways...


	14. Week 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not as long as i thought this was gonna be, but only because i took some stuff out  
> if it's rushed, i'm sorry, i wrote this all in one sitting

Oz wasn’t entirely sure what they should have packed. They were fairly certain they were going to be staying the night at Damien’s place, but in all honesty, they had no idea. Damien wasn’t clear when he had told Oz when to come over and was as brief with the details as he was with all his texts, and Oz didn’t want to seem uncool and ask for clarification. It was stupid, and they should have known better than to get caught up on something as juvenile as that, but they _didn’t_ know better. But they had learned a little bit from their last situation where they fretted over what to wear to gain Damien’s approval, and just packed what they assumed would be appropriate. Which meant they put a change of clothes matching exactly what they wore every day and a toothbrush into their messenger bag and headed out. 

In the few brief texts Damien had sent with actually useful information, he had informed them that they would need to damn their soul first in order to gain access to Hell. Oz had quickly reminded him that they did not have a soul, and if they did, it would surely be damn-worthy by now. Damien had said that was “hot”, and Oz was pretty sure they had never been told they or anything about them was hot as many times in their whole life as Damien had told them in the past few weeks. They were unclear on how they _should_ have felt about that, but they definitely felt flustered. 

The only real piece of information that the demon had given them that proved to be of any use, was that he would meet them at the gates. Oz was familiar enough with travelling to different dimensions to know how to get to Hell. The procedure was a tad different and required a blood sacrifice and the soul of another damned person, since Oz couldn’t offer their own, but it was all manageable. Nothing they couldn’t accomplish quickly after grabbing their things from their apartment after class that day. 

But once they had transported, they realized they were standing at the front gate to Damien’s castle. They didn’t know how, but they assumed Damien made sure they would arrive right out front. It was convenient, so they would have to thank him for that. However, even if that hadn’t been the case, it would have been hard to miss the giant obsidian castle atop the mountain in the otherwise flattish landscape of Hell. Oz peeked over the cliff’s edge where they stood, and there appeared to be other jagged mountains below, but none that could compare to the colossal one that the castle sat on. 

And now that they were standing in front of the iron-wrought gate, Oz finally realized just how grand the castle was. They had vaguely heard of Damien’s home life, mainly from other students’ gossip. But from what they had heard and what they knew for fact, Damien himself didn’t seem to spend much time at the estate, and he definitely didn’t boast about his home life the way Miranda did. The little monster briefly wondered if there was a reason behind it all, until the tremendous screeching sound of the gate startled them out of their thoughts and back to reality. 

Slowly, the gate that towered tens of feet over Oz opened inwards. They hadn’t said anything or done anything to alert anyone of their presence, and they wondered if there were cameras that showed who was out front. But they couldn’t spot one or an intercom system that they could have used, so they simple pressed onwards. 

The gate opened up to a stone walkway that stretched for some hundred feet. Oz began to question whether Damien had really done them a convenience, when it seemed they still had quite a ways to go. An intricate obsidian bridge covered a portion of the river of lava that seemed to create a moat surrounding the place. The fear monster was honestly surprised that things seemed to be so well-crafted, even if they were things for the castle. They were also surprised at how...empty the area seemed. 

It was still Hell, however. Screams of the damned accompanied Oz on their trek, especially so once they were crossing the lava river. They were sure many unfortunate souls must have met their ends in those depths. But the screams were oddly normal for Oz, as someone who spent a portion of the life in the deepest parts of the Void, and it wasn’t anything they weren’t used to. However, they imagined that these temperatures would have been unbearably hot for a human, maybe even other monsters, but for them and they’re not-entirely-physical body, it had little effect on them. But all-in-all, Hell wasn’t particularly terrible so far for a monster like Oz. They assumed they were only seeing some of the better parts, though, and tried not to think about what the worst of it looked like. 

When they finally reached the grand entrance doors, it was only after climbing about a hundred worn-down stone stairs to get there. They were certain they had never walked so much in their entire life. Oz was starting to ponder over why they hadn’t just levitated in their Void form, since they were more than capable. But as they were thinking about how that was a power they really hadn’t used in _years_ and why exactly that was the case, a demon greeted them at the front. Well, he hadn’t so much as greeted Oz as he had demanded to know their name and purpose for coming. 

Oz did their best to not sound as nervous as they were at his loud voice and stated their name and that they were there to see Damien. The fear monster was made infinitely more nervous, however, when the guard barked that they were not expecting any visitors. He looked just about ready to turn Oz away or stab them with the spear he was wielding. Either-or. 

The front door creaked open, and Oz startled yet again. They really needed to find a way to calm down, but they didn’t know how, and they had no time to think about it. Damien himself stepped out, sporting his jean jacket that Oz had only seen him in once before. He put a hand on his hip as he took a few steps out to smirk at Oz. The little monster had never been happier to see his smug face. 

The smirk quickly turned into a scowl as he looked over at the guard. 

“They’re here to see me. You fucking giving them trouble?” 

The guard faltered for a moment, a crucial mistake when speaking to Damien Lavey of all people. 

“N-no, Sir! I wasn’t told to expect any visitors so I-” 

“Yeah, whatever. Come on, Oz.” 

Damien turned on his heel and held the grand door open for them. A blush was starting to form on their face, and they were thankful to not be on the receiving end of Damien’s anger, for once. They weren’t at all surprised that Damien hadn’t mentioned that they were coming over, but they were surprised at his good timing. Punctuality wasn’t exactly his strong suit. 

The guard looked at them scornfully but said nothing more as Oz hurried passed them and into the castle. 

Stepping inside, they were amazed by the foyer alone. They should have known what to expect, given how large the place appeared from the outside, and the fact that Damien was _royalty_ , after all, even though he rarely acted the part. But it was still nothing like they had imagined it. And they had done very little other than imagined what the place would be like on their way over. 

Yes, it was dark and brooding and reeked of blood, but it was phenomenally built, with more attention to detail than Oz imagined the Kings of Hell would have put into their palace. Clearly, Oz had been wrong. The foyer was massive and made Oz fee smaller than they had ever felt in their life. The two main staircases ahead of them met as one in the middle on a landing at the very top, where someone stood. It was clear they were watching Oz and Damien at the entrance. Whoever they were, they were too far up for Oz to really make them out, given how high the staircases went up. It seemed just as high as the flight Oz climbed to get to the entrance. It was also incredibly darkly lit, and the deep obsidian of the walls didn’t help lighten up the place. 

Not that Oz minded. 

The little bit of light that kept them from being in complete darkness came from the sconces on the walls. It appeared that the giant chandelier in the ceiling was apparently just for show, because it casted no light. That or it just wasn’t in use. All in all, Oz could barely see the person up there. But they were looking at Oz, who in turn was looking at them, as Damien made his way around the little monster. 

Once ahead of them, he sneered, “I’m not giving you a tour, so you better not have been hoping for one.” His voiced echoed up the walls. 

He must have noticed how much Oz had just been looking around in awe. Whoops. 

The fear monster quickly brought their hands up in defense. 

_”No, it’s totally fine! I’m sorry! I wasn’t expecting you to show me around or anything.”_

As they followed behind Damien who was already a ways ahead of them, they added, _”I just...hadn’t been expecting this.”_

If the demon had been paying attention and actually registered what Oz had said, he didn’t say or show it. He just led the way further into the castle. Oz became too focused on the idea that they were really _there_ and that they might be going to Damien’s room and that they would get to _see Damien’s room_ and that they might _get to have sex on Damien’s bed_. They hadn’t really paid attention to where they had been going or the path they had taken, so they really hoped they wouldn’t have to navigate back through this place without Damien’s lead. They’d be so screwed. 

Once at the demon’s bedroom, Damien waltzed in and casually stated that they could put their bag down wherever they wanted. He then pointed to the closet door that was open and added, “You can hang it on one of the hooks in there, if you want.” 

While walking over to the closet, they tried to take in as much of the room as they could without actually looking like they were staring at things. It was sort of what they expected Damien’s room to be, dark and generally a mess with the occasional poster of a band Oz had never heard of. But it seemed...barely lived in. It had a lot less personality than they were expecting of someone like Damien. They questioned just how little time the demon really spent in there. 

As Oz hung up their bag and turned around, Damien was on them immediately. It startled them for what felt like the thousandth time that evening. They didn’t know when he had gotten so close, but he was pushing them up against the wall next to the closet, mouth on their neck. 

He was all teeth and Oz liked it way too much. 

Those sharp, demon teeth rubbed on the shadowy skin of Oz’s neck as Damien’s mouth twitched into a smirk, before he was biting down. It was harder than they thought he would be so suddenly, and Oz yelped. At the bite but also at the sudden force with which Damien shoved his own body up against Oz’s. His skin was scorching immediately, and his nails dug into the sides of the little monster’s arms. They quickly remembered to form a mouth. And when Damien had rolled his hips against the other’s, they nudged at his cheek before nipping at the skin with their own teeth to let the demon know they now had a mouth to kiss. 

The Demon Prince’s lips caught little Ozzie’s and he was all tongue immediately. They gripped at his arms to keep steady, especially when Damien already had his tongue down their throat. They were feeling the sweet lean muscle of his arms and chest when Damien wrapped his arms under Oz’s and lifted them. Turning, he brought them over to his bed where he wasn’t gentle with throwing them down and then pinning them down. Oz was absolutely head-over-heels for how _fucking good_ it felt to have Damien’s weight keeping them pushed against the mattress. 

The demon licked a long stripe up their neck to their ear, just to breathe hotly into it. 

“I’m going to fuck you so hard, _baby_.” 

And Oz was so, _so_ happy to just be under the demon, again. 

They didn’t mind all the serious moments. Learning more about the demon was _fine_ and spending some genuine time with him was _fine_ , but Oz was all too aware of what they really wanted out of him. 

Oz was already so hot and bothered, and it was moments like this where they really felt _real_. It was also moments like this that made them realize just how desperate and horny they were. At least Damien didn’t seem any better off, judging by the hot buldge that was pressing through his jeans into Oz’s thigh. It was enough to make them spread their legs wider and wrap them around the demon’s waist. Having his concealed, hardening cock rubbing against their inner thighs and having Damien’s mouth back on their neck made it all too obvious how excited they were to have Damien fuck them right then and there. 

Those teeth were back, as he sucked long and hard bites into Oz’s jugular. His voice was low and deep and sounded more than demonic, just the way Oz liked it. 

“I’m gonna make you feel like a _real princess_ , Ozzie-boy.” 

And right then, Oz was ready to let Damien do whatever the Hell he wanted; they were ready to let Damien be _their King_ for the night. 

But someone else had much different plans for them, as the intercom system on the wall chimed on. Oz jumped and grabbed onto Damien harder, who was struggling to hold onto the squirming monster beneath him. 

A sharp voice came onto the intercom, echoing throughout the room. _”Damien, you are coming down for dinner. **Now.** ”_

It beeped off and Damien just went right back to burying his face in Oz’s neck, almost as if that hadn’t just happened. 

“Yeah fucking right I’m gonna do that.” 

And as if they knew how Damien was going to react to that command, they chimed in again on the intercom. 

_”Oh, and make sure to bring your friend. They’ll be eating with us.”_

But this time Oz looked as startled and scared as they felt at the thought of that truly becoming their reality. 

Damien was quick to smooth a hand down their arm, and whisper, “It’s fine. Don’t even worry. I’ll tell him to fuck right off. You and I aren’t going _anywhere_.” 

The intercom chimed back on and called Damien’s name again, and the demon looked just about ready to burst into flames. He got up as best as he could, which proved to be a difficult task for how fucking horny he was. 

He pressed on the intercom. “We’re not coming down. You can eat without us.” 

Damien had barely even turned around when it chimed on, again. _”Damien LaVey get your ass downstairs.”_

The demon almost couldn’t believe this was really happening to him. He had little Ozzie, cute little twink Ozzie, laying on his bed, as horny and down to fuck as he was, and he was going to get cock-blocked by his own father. This truly was Hell. 

Oz really didn’t want this to turn into an issue, especially since they assumed the person on the other end must have been one of Damien’s dads. No person Oz knew could get away with talking to Damien like that. 

So despite every single inch of their body telling them to lay back down and shut the fuck up, they proposed, _”N-no, it’s ok. I...I could go down there with you. I just, I mean, I can’t really eat, so I don’t know if that will be a problem.”_

Damien looked over at them, equal parts not wanting to leave his bedroom and equal parts thankful that Oz wasn’t going to make this weirder than this already was. “Are you sure about that?” 

_”Yeah, definitely. Whatever is easiest for you. I’ll be fine.”_ And they added for good measure, _”Plus, we can come right back up here, after.”_

Damien was definitely on board with that idea. 

“Alright, fine. We’ll go down, I’ll tell them you can’t eat and it’d be fucking pointless to make you sit through dinner, and we get out of there as soon as possible.” 

It was a plan. Well, it was a terrible, poorly made plan that was surely going to get destroyed by at least one of Damien’s dads, but it was a plan nonetheless. 

As they stood to try and fix themselves a little bit, Oz swayed from the rush of blood and Damien was quickly at their side to help keep them upright. With his arms around them, them couldn’t help but dip their head back and plead with their eyes for another kiss. Damien couldn’t have been happier to comply. It was short-lived, but the sooner they both got downstairs, the sooner they’d be back upstairs. They did their best to smooth down their sweater as Damien fixed his hair a bit. 

Really, Damien did NOT want to sit through dinner or even any short period of time with Oz having to awkwardly sit there, especially with his dads present. He didn’t know what kind of cruel torture this was, but he wouldn’t fucking allow it. His confidence told him he could get Oz and him out of this unscathed. But he knew, deep down where dread was starting to settle, that his dads would find a way to embarrass the fuck out of him or intimidate the fuck out of Oz. Either way was a terrible option and at least one of those was bound to happen. Plus, “meeting the parents” was for long-time relationships or friends, and really, Oz and him were neither. But it was still their house and their rules. 

And just when he was starting to try and make things good between him and Oz. 

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP damien and oz  
> here lies two horny boys before damien's dads tear them both to shreds
> 
> kidding!  
> mostly


	15. Week 6 Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello welcome to the longest chapter  
> so far  
> i think  
> i'm not really keeping track
> 
> couple of things  
> 1\. I was going to try and keep this to one specific mythology or religion but then i was like nah fuck it everything is real and canon everything exists in the same universe i do what i want  
> 2\. I was going to make one of Damien's dads Anton LaVey, since that is where his last name comes from, but as far as I know, although I could be wrong it's been a long time since I read any of LaVey's works, in his version of Satanism, Satan isn't an actual being that exists so...I didn't really think that worked ahah so I did other things 
> 
> anyways

While they were walking back through the halls, Oz didn’t even register that they were taking a different path. They had no idea which way they went to get to Damien’s bedroom and they had no idea which way they were going, now. They just followed Damien’s lead and had forty-seven heart attacks on the way. 

_“Um, is there anything I should know about your dads?”_

Damien visibly stiffened beside them but kept on his way. “Like...what d’you mean?” 

The smaller monster wasn’t sure how to phrase what they wanted to ask without seeming like they were prying for information about the demon’s parents or coming off like they even _wanted_ to know more about his parents. 

”Well...I have no idea who they are; what if I have to talk to them?” 

As they turned down another dimly-lit hallway and made it down some stairs, Damien seemed to be considering his words. What was an appropriate amount of information to give that wasn’t too personal? Too close to “none of Oz’s business”? They reached the bottom of the flight of stairs and Damien came to a stop. Oz got the chance to take notice of all the paintings of demons along the walls. Most of the images looked very old and they didn’t recognize any of the faces. 

“My dads are Hades and Satan. They joined forces a long time ago to merge Hell and the Underworld, which is pretty fucking sick and a cool love story, even if they’re totally lame otherwise.” 

The Demon Prince actually looked proud for a moment, as he stood there in the hall. Oz felt a smile creep up their throat and onto their nonexistent mouth. It was cut short by Damien continuing onwards, and Oz getting noticeably quiet, more than they had already been. They seemed to grow lost in thought the closer they got to the kitchen. 

They rounded a corner and Damien smirked. “Chill, they’re not that scary.” 

_”Oh...no, it’s not that...”_

Oz had no idea how Damien did this every day. The castle seemed impossible to navigate and the lack of lighting didn’t help any. They imagined it was part of the reason the demon barely spent time at home, even though they knew better. 

_”Wait, then why is your last name ‘LaVey’?”_

“They needed a last name for me,” he shrugged, lessening his stride to match Oz’s slowing pace. “They gave me that one in honor of someone close to them.” 

He frowned at Oz’s clear discomfort. For some reason, he expected Oz to not really care about this situation, like himself. He should have known so much better. The Prince gripped the sleeve of their yellow sweater and warned them not to be too intimidated by his parents. And also not too nervous. His dads wouldn’t like that look. It was meant to be a kind gesture, but Oz frowned with their eyes. 

Satan was the first to meet them, when they entered the still-incredibly-large kitchenette. Oz guessed it probably wasn’t the actual kitchen that the servants used. The man was waiting, sitting in a very ornate chair at a small table pushed up against a window that over-looked the front of the castle. He had been gazing out the window, and when the two kids stood before him, he looked over with the most disinterested expression. When Damien remained surprisingly quiet, Oz stepped forward to introduce themselves, trying to be more forward even though their shaky voice gave them away. Satan stayed seated the whole time. The little monster was ninety-nine percent sure he was only sitting there to intimidate them. 

But despite that, their initial impression of him wasn’t a bad one. Satan looked _stunning_ as he leaned back in his chair, and if he wasn’t their fuck-buddy's dad, they would have thought _captivating_. It was clear to Oz where Damien got his good looks. 

“So, you’re the one keeping Damien from coming home.” 

Oz’s eyes grew wide and didn’t go back to normal even at Damien’s immediate snort. When they quickly darted their gaze over to the Demon Prince, he was rolling his eyes and walking away, and Oz felt their legs wobble. 

“Yeah, right. I’m barely ever home, no matter what. What the fuck are you talking-” 

“Language, Damien.” 

With Damien now over at the fridge, pulling its door open, Oz was left to stand incredibly awkwardly in the open space of the kitchenette under Satan’s stare. And for a moment that felt like an eternity, the only noise came from Damien moving stuff around in the fridge. Nothing was said, because what the fuck was Oz even supposed to say? “Hey, I’m trying to get your son to fuck me so if you’ll excuse us”? Like, no. Definitely not. 

Oz’s eyes kept darting over to what Damien was doing, trying, _begging_ him with their gaze to come back over and do something, literally anything, to help them out. Anything was better than the situation they were in, with Satan staring them down and saying absolutely nothing and them standing there like an awkward dork saying absolutely nothing. But Damien never looked up to catch their gaze, and instead busied himself with pulling a sports drink out of the fridge and setting it on the counter. The little monster just watched as he broke the seal on the lid and took a swig from across the room. 

“You’re quite small for a monster.” 

_Huh?_

“I’m surprised Damien let you walk through Hell all by yourself.” There was no smile or hint of worriedness in his voice. Just pure, uninterested malice. 

Oz didn’t even think before the words were slipping from them. 

_”With all due respect, I can take care of myself just fine.”_

It was ballsy, and they heard Damien snort, despite not seeing it with their eyes focused on staring at Satan from beneath their lashes. Satan’s expression went from seemingly disinterested to frowning like he couldn’t be less impressed. They supposed he was not where Damien got his brash attitude from. He looked just about ready to smite Oz where they stood. 

But before that could happen, much to Oz’s pleasure and terror, a sharp hand came down on their shoulder. They did everything in their power not to startle too much in front of Satan, but it was a mostly-wasted effort. Oz jumped, a little but enough to be noticeable. They were already embarrassing themselves so much. They couldn’t believe it had been two minutes and they had already managed to fuck themselves over time and time again. 

Not that they really cared what Damien’s dads thought of them. They were never going to see them again. But all of this was too torturous, in the moment. 

Their eyes darted over fast as lightning to catch site of the strong, large hand, that lead to the man standing beside them. And despite being twice Oz’s size in every way, he managed to wear a warm expression, at least compared to Satan. They got a good look at the man’s face, and he got a good look at theirs. 

Oz was just waiting for it, for what was to come. 

They already knew what he was going to say, but they were hoping they’d be wrong. 

But the man Oz no-longer had to assume was Hades, but rather knew was Hades, smiled when he said, “You’re Death’s child, yeah?” 

Fuck. 

“Well, I haven’t seen you since you were just a little fearling running around after your father!” 

Hades grabbed Oz by their tiny-by-comparison shoulders to turn them towards him, just so he could get a better look at them. If Oz had been uncomfortable under Satan’s stare, it was now so much worse with both dads looking at them. Despite Hades’ huge grin, Oz didn’t feel any better about their current situation. They couldn’t see Damien’s face because their back was to him, but they did their best to manage a peak over at Satan who had an eyebrow raised, but no other physical signs of interest. 

_”Y-yes...it’s been a long time.”_

The little monster did their best to take a step back and out of Hades’ grip without seeming like they were desperately trying to escape, even though that was what they really wanted to do, just to put some distance between them. They offered out a hand. 

And Hades was overly enthusiastic when he slapped his hand onto Oz’s. It entirely covered Oz’s slender appendage, which was intimidating enough on its own. But the vigorous handshake that followed was even more-so, as it shook all of Oz’s arm and most of that side of their body. It was still welcomed, however, by the fear monster, as anything at that point was better than the awkward moments they had had to spend feet apart from Satan who still looked like he hated their guts. 

“How’s he been all these years? I feel like I haven’t seen him in ages!” 

_”Ah...”_ Oz was hesitant, but honest. _”Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you. I probably haven’t seen him in as long as you have.”_

Hades’ eyes widened a tad and he retracted his hand. “Oh, my apologies! I’m so sorry to hear that.” 

In all honesty, Oz was intrigued by the large man before him. He was so different from Satan. At least, as far as Oz could tell. He was definitely where Damien got his non-manners from. Despite the conversation not having lasted long, yet, he hadn’t introduced himself or really asked for Oz’s name. They would never, in a billion years, tell Damien that all they were doing right then was comparing him to his dads. 

_”No, don’t be. Water under a bridge, Sir.”_

They were startled and honestly frightened when Satan chimed in with, “Oh, so you call _him_ Sir, but all I get is back-chat.” 

Oz was immediately stuttering but Hades just laughed. The little monster was too caught between the two of them, unsure who to focus their attention on. And Damien still wasn’t next to them, again. 

That large hand was back on their shoulder. “I’ll take it as my husband’s been giving you a hard time?” 

“Not a hard time at all.” This time Satan’s disinterested voice was accompanied by a smile small, and Oz relaxed a tad. 

And finally, Damien was at their side. Oz had never been happier to have him there. He held the drink in his hand and gestured with it. 

“Alright, alright. So you met my...uh...” It was the only time Oz had ever seen him falter. It was a strange sight to behold. “Oz. You met Oz. Now we’ll just be heading back-” 

His arm slid over and around Oz’s shoulders, half-finished drink in the other hand. The demon had never been “smooth” or “charming”, but he managed it alright in this situation. He steered them away from his dads, turning them around to walk back from whence they’d come. It was clear he had had enough of torturing Oz through this conversation, now that it was no longer torturous. But it would have been too easy for them to get away just like that. 

Satan’s skeptical voice brought Oz to a stop, but Damien kept pushing them forward. “I believe the two of you will be joining us for dinner.” 

The Demon Prince managed to turn towards his dads to speak, but never stopped now-shoving Oz out of the room. “Yeaaaaah, about that. Ozzie can’t eat, so it’d be totally pointless for them to sit through dinner.” The two of them were almost out of the kitchen when Damien finished with, “Wouldn’t want to be rude to our guest, now.” 

His dads didn’t say anything to them or protest their exit any further. It only led Oz to assume that the two Kings didn’t really care if they actually had stayed for dinner, but more-so just wanted an excuse to meet them. 

When the two kids were out of the room and hopefully out of ear-shot, Hades spoke up with a raised eyebrow and a grin that said he was close to laughing. 

“’Ozzie’?” 

Satan just shrugged, finally rising to his feet, adjusting his clothes as he went. “It’s cute, I suppose.” 

“The nickname or the kid?” 

He rolled his eyes. “...Both.” 

 

\--- 

Oz almost protested. They really almost did. It was strange to think about having sex when they knew Damien’s dads were home, even if the castle was gigantic and there was no way they’d be heard. And they almost voiced that opinion until Damien pushed his burning cock inside of them, and they did nothing except arch their back into it and let out an embarrassing moan. 

Or, it would have been embarrassing, if Damien hadn’t done the exact same thing at the same moment. 

Damien was huge, and it had been so many weeks since they had done this that Oz had almost forgotten what is was like. It was so much different than just having it in their mouth. It was so much better. The feeling of Damien’s skin on theirs was beyond overwhelming, especially when they were chest-to-chest with Damien’s dick throbbing inside them. 

Oz, for the first time, didn’t feel the shame of how much they liked being on their back. 

“Aw, spread your legs more, baby.” 

It was an order, but he didn’t wait for them to comply before he was grabbing at Ozzie’s thin legs himself. And then his hands were everywhere, grabbing at every inch of the little monster. His claws were rough on their shadowy skin as they grabbed particularly Oz’s waist. They were starting to think that Damien had a thing for their little torso. They were right. 

The bed frame squeaked as Damien became almost erratic, more impatient, more _desperate_. He was mouthing kisses down their face and chest and arms and whatever the demon could manage to get his lips and teeth on. Anticipation was building up in Oz as Damien kept slamming his dick into them at just the right angle, and they were so happy to have him keep hitting a specific spot. 

_“D-Damien, please-”_

They were pretty sure they had never been this overjoyed in their life, laying under a man and shamelessly begging for more. They didn’t want to think about how that might be because of the specific person they were with. No. 

“Fuck, Ozzie, just keep saying my name. Just –ah!- fucking scream it for me, baby.” 

And Oz was more than complaisant. They were probably going to be screaming his name any second, anyways. After so much of Damien’s relentless thrusting, scorching hot inside of them and wet and so fucking good, they couldn’t think beyond anything other than saying Damien’s name. They were happy to scream it, for him. 

Damien practically purred at the sound of his own name ripping from the little monster’s mind into his. The purr quickly became a growl, and the feeling of it vibrated from the demon’s throat against Oz’s. He was so fucking enraptured by it that he couldn’t help digging his claws into the soft, velvety shadows of Oz’s waist. He had little Ozzie underneath him, doing whatever he wanted, crying out desperately with their toes and claws curling. 

“You’re so obedient, Ozzie.” 

_“And you...ah...sure like ordering me around.”_ The fear monster barely managed, _”Maybe you -AHH FUCK- make a better Prince...than you think.”_

And despite little Oz practically coming undone underneath him, the demon just kept shoving himself in and out, full and good and hard as Hell, and Oz almost couldn’t believe it was really happening. At any other time, they’d be mortified to think of themselves in this position, legs up over Damien’s shoulders and becoming an absolute, incoherent mess, but it just felt _so fucking good._

“Heh.” The smirk was unmistakable, even if Oz could barely keep their eyes open enough to see it. “Only if you’ll be my little _princess_.” 

It was an empty proposal, but it was still so fucking hot. 

Oz didn’t imagine them dating, at least not most of the time, and surely didn’t imagine them married, ever. But if it meant getting fucked like that by Damien every day, they’d take the offer. 

They let out a small, almost pathetic mewl as their cock throbbed on their stomach, so excited every time Damien’s muscular form rubbed up against it. And Oz got it, now. They had never understood Damien’s inability to keep calm or controlled once he’d gotten himself worked up, never knew what that felt like, but they got it, now. In the heat of sex, right on the edge of cumming, they were entirely coming undone with no control and it was all for Damien. 

Even the most minute of movements, Oz thought, would be enough to throw them over the edge. And when Damien wrapped a strong, burning hand around their cock, they knew it was all over. His pace quickened as Oz’s grip tightened in his hair, and he was rocking the whole bedframe with them. The little monster made the effort to really focus as each thrust almost did it for them. 

It was dumb. It was stupid. They could have cum at any time, if they had wanted. They could have cum the moment Damien had pushed his huge fucking cock in them, but they were holding out. As much as they were desperate and still teenage, and it was all just high school neediness, they wanted to hold out for Damien. Even if they knew he would have just kept fucking them senseless long after they’d come. He tried to be caring, when he wanted to, but he was still a selfish asshole, after all. 

Oz barely managed a glance down at their stark white precum dripping all over Damien’s hand before they were done for. All they could do was writhe underneath the demon and throw their head back. 

_“Damien, I-I...I-”_

The demon’s voice was husky, ragged from lust. Normally he would have loved to tease Oz for being so loud, but the screaming was just too enjoyable, now. 

“Fuck, you’re so tight...” 

Even long after the little monster was spent and gripping helplessly into Damien’s back, cum sticky between their stomach’s, Damien didn’t want it to stop. 

“You make me so _fucking crazy_ , Ozzie.” 

And from the little monster’s dazed expression and starry, half-lidded eyes, and the way he was still ramming into their overly-stimulated hole, he was sure they could barely hear him. 

 

\--- 

By the end, they were lying in a mess of Damien’s sheets. The demon took a sip of the sports drinks he had neglected on the nightstand. It felt weirdly normal to have Oz lying there with him. Too normal. In fact, he was almost certain he wanted them there every night, and maybe even every day. 

No, scratch that. Too clingy. 

The room was pitch dark after Damien had gotten up to turn the lights off completely for Oz. He knew they’d prefer it that way. The only light was a strong one that came from outside of the window, a thousand fires burning in the distance of Hell. 

_”Is that my horse?”_

For a moment, Damien was confused. Until he followed Oz’s eyeline to the little horse figurine sitting on his window sill. He had entirely forgotten he had even left it there. 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” 

Things were awkward, for a minute. It was a little hard to explain that he had accidentally stolen it, but he still gave it a shot. 

“I was looking at it when all that shit went down in your apartment.” He took a drink. “Ended up coming home with me, I guess.” 

Not bad. 

_”Oh, right. Sorry about that...”_

“About what?” 

Oz had busied themselves looking at the dark, Hell sky outside of Damien’s window. It was rather relaxing, to see everything burning down around them from the comfort of the bedroom and Damien’s wonderfully luxurious bed. The bed was big enough to fit three, and Oz wouldn’t have been surprised if the demon had had as many people in it at once. 

_”About freaking out on you.”_

The room was a mess. Damien had definitely been overly-anxious, or maybe just overly-horny, when he had finally gotten Oz back to the bedroom. Their clothes were still all over the floor from where Damien had practically ripped them off their body. Oz started to think about how awkward it would be when they would inevitably have to get up naked to retrieve their clothes. It was quickly pushed aside by them cuddling themselves further into the toasty sheets. 

“Nah, it’s cool. I mean, I guess I was kind of a dick about things.” 

_”You were definitely a dick. But I still over-reacted...a little.”_

Damien smiled and didn’t say that it was more than a little. He slid down further into the bed, mirroring Oz’s actions but resisted from reaching over to touch the little monster. The duvet smooshed more into the end of the bed, half of it on the floor. 

_”Um...should I leave?”_

It was a strange question, Damien thought, but he also supposed Oz was a strange person. 

“Do you _want_ to leave?” 

_”I...”_

They didn’t know how to say “no, I don’t want to leave I want to stay here so you can fuck me forever” in a way that wasn’t creepy or weird or _insane_ , so they just settled for a slightly less insane version. 

_“I’d like to stay.”_

Damien smiled, wide and genuine. Maybe a little bit of confidence and ego slipped through it. He rested his weight on one arm and turned onto his side to look at Oz. They were too close. 

“Then stay.” 

_”You don’t mind?”_

“Nah.” 

It was an understatement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um ok so the next chapter, maybe two, is mostly, however not entirely, just going to be kink shit because hi im a self-indulgent hoe so if you hate the way i write sex scenes or whatever ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ sucks to suck, don't read it


	16. Week 6, Continued x2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i constantly flip back and forth between being an angsty fuck and a soft, dorky, romance-chasing idiot  
> it really shows

When fires in the distance had died out that night and new ones rose to life in their place, maintaining the bright glow that came through Damien’s window, things were quiet. The demon laid in bed, alone, finishing the cigarette in his hand, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling. Things were weirdly good, for once. He could hear Oz rummaging in his attached washroom. He had never felt so relaxed, before. 

Once he had taken his last drag, there was protesting from Oz in the other room. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he stretched his back and arms before lazily working his way over to inspect. Any normal, respectful person would have knocked, which Damien rose his knuckles to do. Until he remembered that it was his fucking room and his fucking house and fuck that. With one hard hand and the fact that it wasn’t locked, the door swung open and hit the wall behind it. 

“What’s taking you so fucking long?” 

As Damien stood in the doorway, he assessed the sight in front of him. The little phobias on Oz’s shoulders had one of the demon’s many combs in their weird little hands. They seemed to have taken it upon themselves to fix up Oz’s hair. 

_“Ugh, sorry, they always do this. I told them not to touch your stuff but they don’t really listen to me.”_

The demon stared at the hairstyle. It was all combed to the front and he was almost impressed that the little phobias had managed to tame it. The hair came down straight in front of one of Oz’s eyes as it tapered off to the side and flared out at the end. And Oz looked fucking adorable. 

“Woah, that looks _fucking_ sick!” 

The genuine, barely-angry tone of his voice caught Oz off guard as they looked at him through their reflection in the mirror. _“W-...really?”_

“Uhh, yeah?” 

They played anxiously with the ends of it. _”I don’t know...it just doesn’t seem like me, you know?”_

“I think it’s exactly you.” 

Damien closed the distance between them. He didn’t mention that he still didn’t much know Oz and wasn’t in the position to be making such claims. As he got closer, he tried not to think about that. Nevertheless, he was beside them, admiring the look both in the mirror and up close. Secretly, he was also admiring how good the two of them looked standing there together in their reflection. The little monster’s hand was up quickly, though, pushing their hair back. 

The demon startled to life out of his calm. “No-hey! The fuck are you doing?” 

As the smaller monster was pushing it back, trying to return their hair to its usual state, they explained, _”I do need to get it fixed up a bit. But definitely not by them.”_

One of the phobias stuck its tongue out in response and crossed its arms, the others seeming to have disappeared into Oz’s body again. A moment went by where Damien just watched Oz run their fingers through their own hair, fixing and prodding at it. He wasn’t thinking when he spoke up. 

“Let me do it.” 

Their ministrations ceased, hands still up by their head. _”What?”_

“Let me do it,” he repeated, more insistent this time. 

_”Umm, yeah right.”_

“No, seriously.” 

_“And, why would I trust you to fix my hair?”_

“Because...” 

They struggled not to bark out a laugh. _”Great reasoning.”_

The little monster finished up with their hair, finally getting it mostly back to normal. They assumed it would go back to its usual state on its own, resuming its semi-messy look once they rolled around in Damien’s bed a bit more. When they went to voice that thought, maybe in better words and with a little more charm, the demon looked nervous. He wasn’t saying anything and had busied himself by playing with the sink faucet and comb and anything he could get his hands on. 

Oz briefly wondered if aliens had come in those short moments when they had stopped talking and had taken Damien. They really didn’t know who this nervous, avoiding-eye-contact person was next to them. 

_”Is...is something wrong?”_

He almost dropped the tube of toothpaste from his hands. “Uh- fuck. No. It’s nothing.” 

A mischievous look came over their eyes that made them sparkle as they watched the demon fumble. No way was Damien getting away that easily, especially when he looked just about ready to book it out of there. They were on him in no time flat, grabbing at his arms and pushing. Dazed and confused and unsure of what exactly was happening, Damien’s reaction delayed. By the time he was pushing back and actually struggling to get his wrists out of Oz’s grasp, he was already turned around with his back pushed up against the vanity, Oz pinning him. 

Oz was right up against him, eyes sparkling and giddy. The demon would have enjoyed it more if the vice grip on his wrists wasn’t so fucking painful. He wondered if Oz even realized how strong they were, or that they even had such a powerful leverage over monsters of Earth and its dimensions. It was all fun and games, for the most part. Although, Damien was a little fucking pissed that Oz had easily managed to get him into that position, even if they were just playing around. 

He was also fucking pissed that he now had to stare right at Oz, and Oz got to stare right back at his bright, blushing complexion. 

_”Come ooon.”_ Their voice was hoarse and raspy, echoing playfully and dangerously in the demon’s head. _”Tell me.”_

There was a toothy grin on Oz’s face. Damien had never quite seen them like this. They were playful and strangely not nervous, and Damien was the one left to be an anxious, fumbling wreck. This was all too fucking weird. 

“You’re in a weird mood.” 

_”No, I’m not.”_ The grin seemed even toothier than before. 

“Yeah, you are.” He struggled with his arms under Oz’s grasp; not to try and free himself, but rather to play back with the little monster. “You’re all silly and weird.” 

_”This is what I’m always like.”_ The more their eyes glowed and their voice felt like sandpaper grating in the demon’s mind, the more Damien just wanted to play with them. 

“Yeah fucking right it is.” 

_”It is. If I’m not nervous.”_

When the fuck was Oz not nervous? 

“You’re not nervous with me?” 

_”Not right now.”_

Damien pushed aside whatever he had been caught up thinking about, before. And Oz didn’t press him for it, again. Instead, the little monster released him in favour of returning to the basin they had been standing at. They splashed water on their face and combed some through their still not-quite-right hair. The demon never moved from where he had been pinned, and instead leaned back further against the vanity beside them, watching them. 

He found himself unable to take his eyes off of Oz. Not that there was particularly much else for him to be doing, then, but he still discovered that he was more than content to just observe them. They were drying themselves off with a hand towel, trying to look over at Damien in the mirror without getting caught. But they met his eyes and fumbled when they realized he was gazing at them with softer eyes than a Prince of Hell should have been allowed to have. They were smart and calculated and yet they always managed to stumble over themselves. They were so fucking adorable. 

The demon straightened himself up and took the two steps over to them, coming up behind them. He pushed himself against their back and surprisingly Oz didn’t startle at that. His hands came up around their sides to palm at their chest and stomach, nuzzling into their neck and head while trying not to be too disgustingly cuddly. 

“You ready for round two?” 

Oz met his eyes in the mirror. 

_”Of course I am.”_

 

\---- 

Back on his bed, the demon had taken it upon himself to pin Oz down against the mattress and take things as slow as possible. They had all night, after all. There was something so pleasing about being so predatorial, keeping whoever he was with under his grasp. It was especially pleasing with Oz, however –being able to hold down someone so strong and make them _his_. Even if Oz was letting him pin them down, and it wasn’t something he might be able to accomplish if Oz actually fought back. But it was still fucking great, so the technicalities of it didn’t matter. 

With his mouth on theirs and his hands in theirs and some dirty words spoken between the two of them, Damien wanted to take a risk. His risks never really worked out, with Oz or in his life in general, but that had never stopped him before. Not once. He was off of the little monster in an instant, climbing off them and then the bed. There was a hint of surprise and confusion in the fear monster’s expression. But mostly, they just let out a whining noise at the loss of Damien’s body heat, but especially at the loss of his body. 

Despite being horny and dazed and honestly not that interested in getting up, they rolled over onto their side to try and see what the demon was doing. But by the time they had managed to slowly turn themselves, tangling further into the sheets, Damien was already on his way back, placing a laptop on the bed. 

_”Um, what’re you doing?”_ It was most-parts genuine curiousity, some-parts vexation. 

“Well,” he began, slow and easy, “I was thinking maybe you and I could uh...” 

He was already starting to rethink the idea. 

“...explore that fetish of yours?” 

Oz pushed themselves up with both arms, sitting back with untrusting eyes. They said nothing but kept their eyes on Damien, almost retreating back. They pulled their legs up and pressed their knees against their chest. 

_”Why?”_

“Because it’ll be fun.” 

_“I just-”_

“I promise.” 

It took some time. It took a lot of time. Oz kept looking at Damien from beneath their lashes. It wasn’t out of fear but out of uncertainty, and it showed. The demon thought they really might say no. But he held out hope, even as their eyes grew cold and distant and then back to uncertain but present. 

_“Well...what would you want to do?”_

Damien almost laughed but held it back. He still sputtered a bit, unbelieving of what he was hearing. “No, dude, what do _you_ want to do?” He couldn’t believe he even had to ask that. “Like, c’mon, there’s gotta be some shit you jerk off to.” 

The blush that sparked on Oz’s face made them hide it behind their knees, bringing their hands up to cover themselves even more. But none of it happened quick enough to hide the playfulness in their embarrassed eyes or the dimples that creased on their cheeks. They weren’t uncomfortable, but their nerves were back, full force. 

_”Um, yeah, I guess.”_

Damien waited a minute before resting his weight on a hand he placed on the bed between them. He leaned in, close enough to breathe hot against Oz’s skin, but not too close. Not yet. 

“You gonna elaborate?” 

Oz slowly put their legs down, crossing them on the bed. It was taking them fucking forever to just come out and say something, anything, that should have been easy, and Damien was starting to get very restless. So he pushed them along. 

“You normally go to that site, right?” 

_”No, it’s not really like that...”_ They weren’t looking at him. _“Most people on the site are different from me.”_

What the fucking fuck was any of that supposed to mean? The demon would have appreciated some more direct, more obvious fucking answers. 

“What does that even mean?” 

_”I just...I like to see, um...”_ They started, rushing through their words, only to stop just as quickly. 

They wanted to tell Damien. They really did. It was difficult, but at the same time, it was eating away at them. It would have been so simple to just have come out and said it. Just said exactly how they felt. Damien wouldn’t have judged them. Probably. But they were exposed and uncomfortable and felt very open, sitting there next to Damien but feeling miles away. It was right on the tip of their tongue. It was begging them to be let free, to finally just fucking _tell someone._

It was a long silence with Oz just staring at their feet, playing with the bedsheets between their fingers. And despite all the waiting around and dodging the subject and nervous behaviour, Damien tried not to get too frustrated in response. He didn’t want a repeat of their last shitty fetish conversation. So he genuinely tried his hardest to think about what would be the best course of action in his situation. That in and of itself was not something he did often. It was definitely not his strong suit. But he figured yelling wasn’t the greatest option. Probably. 

He attempted to think of something comforting he could do. He didn’t really even fully comprehend the term comfort, but he would at least make the effort. With an almost-shaking hand, he reached out to try and put it on Oz’s arm. In the end, he only ended up gripping them quite roughly and Oz flinched away from his touch. He was starting to see the irony of him internally judging and assessing Oz’s uncontrolled strength, earlier. 

A loud raging cry of “FUUUUUCK” echoed in his thoughts, but he managed to somehow keep it internal and not let Oz know he was fucking up so bad, even though it was obvious. So instead, he opted for scooching up right beside them on the bed, sitting hip to hip with them. When Oz only looked down to eye his actions and didn’t make any other move, good or bad, he wrapped an arm around their shoulders. 

The heat of his body was comforting, as it always had been to Oz in the past few weeks. They found themselves leaning into it until they had their head resting against Damien’s shoulder. They looked up to meet his eyes from under their half-lidded ones. 

_”You’re really comfy.”_

It was an understatement. The heat that radiated off of Damien would have normally been enough to burn anyone who touched him when he was in a state of anger or...well, really any strong emotion. It was one of the many dangers of being with the demon. However, he definitely tried to suppress it for Oz. So instead, it was cozy and, in all honesty, making Oz a little drowsy. It was calming them down, to say the least. 

They could have fallen asleep right there in Damien’s arms. It was almost their preference considering what the alternative was in the situation. But there was no way Damien would allow that when he felt he was finally making some progress. 

“You wanna tell me about it?” 

They rocked their head a bit, and the demon almost thought they were trying to say “no”. But rather, they were just rocking themselves slightly, uncertain and unsure. 

_”I just...well, you know, I am actually fear itself, right?”_

“Yeah, no shit. I still don’t know jackshit about you but at least I know that much.” 

_”Right, well...it’s just that I, um...”_

Their gaze moved down to the demon’s collarbone and then further to his chest. They weren’t really looking there, but actually passed it to something else. Something Damien couldn’t see. 

_”I like seeing people cry out of fear. It’s not really what most people on that site like, or really talk about...”_

They were so close that Damien could have kissed them. And from how fucking cute Oz looked in one of his t-shirts and just their underwear on the bottom, resting against him with a blush on their face and a hopelessly romantic expression that said all they were thinking about was torture and murder, he really wanted to. 

“That’s cool,” he breathed out. 

Oz was still gazing into Damien’s chest, side of their face pushed into it, fixated. _”Really?”_ The nervousness was gone. Their voice was elsewhere, calm and steady and felt like air in his thoughts. 

“Yeah. Everyone’s got some weird shit that they like.” 

_”And you?”_

“Don’t worry about me, for now. Let’s just focus on you.” 

It was the least selfish Damien had ever been in his entire life. Oz’s body buzzed against him. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but it didn’t seem bad. 

_”The fear in your heart is so pretty.”_

He looked down and wondered if that was what Oz had been staring at that whole time –his heart. If there was fear there, he hadn’t noticed it. He wondered what they saw, what it looked like through their eyes. 

“Alright, woah, woah, I said we could explore this shit. I didn’t mean directly with me.” 

With a quick motion, he tucked his hands under Oz’s arms and pushed them back. The other squirmed against him, desperate to get back to that beautiful darkness they had been so close to. But despite their protests, he pulled their body up and in front of him. He managed to situate them between his legs, resting their back against his chest. He tried not to make it seem like he was hugging them from behind or anything like that when he went to reach forward for his laptop. 

It felt like the two of them were away in their own little world in that room. Damien had forgotten that the outside world existed, that they still had school the next day and prom at the end of the week and a whole lifetime ahead of them both. He placed the computer onto Oz’s legs, letting them look up whatever they wanted. Things were quiet aside from the clicking of the laptop keys. They knew what they liked and he had no idea. But he was willing, excited even, to have them show him. 

Almost entirely out of habit and instinct, he was groping them through their underwear and nibbling at their ear while their fingers were working on the keyboard, eyes on the screen. When they had something finally pulled up, Damien was sliding a hand under their waistband. 

It was going to be a good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i went back and proof-read some of my earlier chapters because I remembered I had seen a few typos that I thought I should fix up. I was reading the first few chapters and I know it was a month ago and all but I was like wow I reeeeeally don't remember writing any of this lol


	17. Week 6, End

It had been Damien’s idea. 

At least, that was what Oz was going to tell people if anyone asked. 

Parting ways with him after spending the night at his place had been...difficult, to say the least. Normally, Oz needed their space from people, and nights over at a friend’s or stranger’s place left them feeling drained. Partially because they needed time to be alone. A lot of time, actually. But that aside, they also needed the time to recharge. It wasn’t that Oz had been acting around Damien or anyone they spent time with, but rather that they felt the need to push themselves to be more open, more aware and alert, more “on” than they ever were naturally. 

However, instead of leaving Damien’s place and being happy to get some solid rest and alone time, they had returned to their apartment to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, daydreaming of spending more time with the demon. They wondered why they had ever left his bedroom at all. Maybe, it was just the excitement of getting to know someone new, to spend actual time with someone who wasn’t in their immediate circle of friends. Maybe, it was all just from the giddiness of being young and excited from having basically a stranger sweep them off their feet. Maybe, it was something more. 

But no matter the cause, the result was the same. They wanted to be with him. In any way they could get. They wanted more nights up in his room, more time spent in his arms, more selfish moments of having the demon wondering and worrying about what he could do to make them happy. They wanted more of whatever he was willing to give them. 

So that was what lead to them marching up to Damien. They could have texted him, they could have been subtle about it. But subtlety was for people with things to lose. And with lust in their heart and danger in their eyes and a shaking in their hands that never seemed to stop, they felt like they had nothing to lose. If they wanted to see him, then that’s what they’d fucking do. 

They had suggested plans to Damien only to watch the demon’s eyes light up in response. 

And that was how they’d both ended up lighting a bank on fire and grabbing gloved hand-fulls of money out of the vault. 

Most people in their vicinity had died early in the fire they had started in the main area of the building, and the rest had run for their lives long ago. It left Damien and Oz in the bank, listening to the screams of those outside and the very distant wailing police sirens. Despite the seemingly easy get-away they had ahead of them, Oz was still nervous about the whole thing. The demon had assured them they’d be riding his motorcycle into the depths of Hell long before the police could get them, but they still had their doubts, especially as the sirens grew closer. 

_”Ok, we need to get out of here, **fast**!”_

They gripped their backpack full of cash and clutched it against their chest, fingers digging into its sides as it threatened to spill over with the amount of money that was in it. It had never been about the money. Really, they just wanted the thrill of getting to rob a bank with Damien. But holding onto some of the money wouldn’t hurt. Oz turned in a rush, ready to bolt out of there, only to run right into the demon. Even when they bounced off him, apologized, and tried to push past, the Prince didn’t move. Instead, he stepped directly in their path, again. 

_”What are you doing? We gotta go-”_

But in the middle of protesting, a strong arm wrapped around their waist as Damien half-lifted them up to drag them out of the room. Panic didn’t settle in immediately, as they were certain he was leading them outside. But once they made it out into the hall, Oz was thrown over a small table that was over-heating and their bag tumbled to the floor. The wood was a dangerously high temperature with flames licking the counter next to them, threatening to spill over to their area at any second. 

Oz tried to regain their composure as quickly as they possibly could. Although a little dazed, they pushed themselves up with their arms, still bent over the small table, trying to shake off the haze from being thrown. But once they had lifted themselves up, they were immediately pushed back down by a strong hand on their back, their chest hitting the wood table once more. 

_”What the fuck are you doin-”_

The demon was on them before they could finish, pushing himself up against them and fitting his body right against theirs. A hand slipped between Oz and the table. It proceeded to slide up their shirt as Damien pressed his mouth to the back of Oz’s neck, and they could feel the smirk growing on his face as it formed. The hand that worked its way up their torso was surprisingly delicate and slow, as was the other hand that was making its way up their thigh to the waistband of their jeans. The feeling of those sure hands and Damien’s burning body pinning them down sent shivers through their whole being. 

_”D-Damien, this isn’t exactly the best time...”_

The counter nearest them started to go up in flames. Oz could feel the heat of it on their face. 

“No, it’s the _perfect_ time.” 

Both hands were down, suddenly, working over Oz’s clothed crotch. They couldn’t help the immediate instinct to rub up against them, especially as Damien was working on undoing the jeans completely. When both their jeans and underwear hit the floor and pooled around Oz’s ankles, Damien pushed himself back against them. Despite still having pants on, the demon still rubbed and humped and grinded against Oz’s ass, nuzzling his nose and teeth into the back of their head. The police sirens were blaring, so close that they must have just pulled up to their block. 

_”Dude, what are you-”_ They couldn’t hold back the moan that interrupted their sentence as Damien rubbed his palm between their legs, starting just at their ass and moving up to their balls and eventually wrapping around their cock. _”We’re going to die- or worse, get arrested!”_

Oz couldn’t actually die, but the pain of burning in that fire would have been very real to them. Maybe not _as_ painful for them, and they wouldn’t have felt the pain in the same way as other monsters experienced it, but still. And although Damien would just go straight back to Hell after death, his dads would be fucking _pissed_. It wouldn’t be a pretty ending for either of them. 

The demon stood back to drop his own pants to the ground. 

He went back to bending over Oz and practically purring in their ear. “Yeah, isn’t it exciting?” 

They wanted to say “no, it’s not fucking exciting” but it would have been a lie. An obvious lie, at that, when Oz was grinning, sharp teeth pressed into a smile with their forehead pushed against the table. An obvious lie, when their cock was throbbing in Damien’s hand and they were pushing their ass back up against Damien, grinding against him as much as he was against them. An obvious lie, when they were giggling as the demon’s nose tickled them accidentally when he was busy licking their neck. 

So they settled for, _”You’re fucking crazy.”_

“Yeah, I know.” And between sucking dark bruises into their neck and shoulder, he added, “I told you everyone has weird shit that they like.” 

They were rolling their eyes when their smile only grew wider, almost surpassing Damien’s in glee. _”Right, but I didn’t know your weird fetish was going to involve both of us getting killed.”_

“ _Almost_ killed,” he corrected. 

 

\---- 

Oz swung their legs back and forth lightly, feet knocking against the side of the ampitheatre stage. They were giddy and in a silly mood, feeling as strange and other-worldly as they truly were. They were sure the nighttime brought it out in them. As they stared up at the starry, black sky above the stage, overlooking the many rows of seats before them, Damien hummed lightly beside them. 

His legs also hung over the edge of the stage where they sat, but he was still –more calm than he had ever been before. The demon was drinking from a bottle, and although Oz didn’t know what was in it, the heavy scent of alcohol was strong in the air between them. When an outstretched hand offered the bottle to them, the fear monster took a swig of it, just to be polite. 

They both really liked being there when everyone else had gone. 

Despite both monsters genuinely enjoying theatre as a class, it was so much nicer once things had died down and everyone had changed and left school and the two of them were left behind. It was especially nice for Oz, but Damien enjoyed it more with them at his side. 

When they handed the bottle back, their shoulders visibly stiffened. _”Have you...have you thought about who you’re going to prom with?”_

The Prince just shrugged it off. “Not really.” 

_”Would you...want to go with...me?”_

His eyes slid over to them, but his body stayed forward. His grip on the bottle tightened. “As...as like, a date?” 

_”Well-”_

“Because that’s not going to happen-” 

_”No,”_ they interrupted. _“I didn’t mean as a date.”_

The two monsters stared out into the sea of theatre seats before them. They weren’t turned towards each other and they weren’t looking at each other. But neither of them had really moved or changed positions, and things still felt the same. The only noticeable difference, the only evidence that Oz had asked the dreaded prom question at all, was the tense, nervous air that mixed in with the scent of alcohol and created a cocktail that made Oz sick to their stomach. But they were used to it. 

_”I just thought if you weren’t going with anyone else, we could go together.”_

Crickets chirped in the nearby bushes and city life was in full swing in the distance. The stage lights were off, casting them almost entirely into darkness. There was a brightness coming from far off in one of the school windows, and a twinkling of different colours on the grass from the party happening not too far away in the outside club. 

“It’ll probably be super lame.” 

_“We can make it not lame.”_

The demon’s nails tapped against the neck of the bottle. Oz’s feet danced lightly against the side of the stage as they willed their legs to stop swinging. 

“Oh yeah? You got something in mind?” 

_”You could say that.”_

They seemed to have a plan, and Damien was ready for it. He really hadn’t thought about prom since several weeks back, when he had actually been worried about going and who he might want to go with. That was, until he had met Oz, and the entire idea of prom and really most of school life had escaped him entirely. He couldn’t understand how the last several weeks, the very last weeks, of high school had gone by. 

“So if we’re not going as dates, what are we going as?” 

A small, gentle smile formed dimples on their face and creased their eyes. They felt giddy and young. _“I don’t know. Partners in crime?”_

Damien thought that sounded beyond fucking stupid and lame and _adorable_. A smile crept over his face and he couldn’t have hidden it if he’d tried. Which he didn’t. 

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sure how long the next chapter will be or when it will get posted  
> but it's coming


	18. Prom: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you'd think because i didn't update this for two months, that i would have been working on this slowly and making it super great that whole time  
> but no  
> i sat down and did this in one sitting  
> soooooo yeah enjoy i guess?

The afternoon was beyond lovely. And while a bunch of their classmates were out, enjoying the day, already up and getting ready for prom, taking pictures in beautiful early Summer air, the gang was inside. 5 hours until they’d head out to prom. 5 hours until they’d see their second-last day of high school before they’d graduate. 5 hours until what felt like the end of their world as they knew it. And they were on the couch in their living room, watching trashy reality television together while they still could. Well, three of them were. 

Oz was pacing around the apartment, a worried look stitching their eyebrows down and wrinkling the shadows on their forehead, that Amira would normally smooth out with her thumb and tell them that even if their skin wouldn’t noticeably show signs of aging, they should still stop stressing so much. They were worried as all Hell. But instead, Amira was on the couch with Vicky, growing ever more antsy. She was the only one who was even remotely ready for the coming night, probably because she’d be leaving earlier than the rest of them. 

“Dude, chill! You’re making me nervous just _knowing_ you’re pacing behind me.” 

That brought Oz to a dead stop that lasted mere seconds before they were wringing out their hands like they’d just committed murder and picking up their pace again. Except Oz was usually a lot calmer about murdering than they were about their current situation. 

_“I’m sorry! I’m sorry...it’s just...”_ They paused their walking again, as they rounded the kitchenette table and made it back over to stand behind the couch. _”I don’t know...I’m just...so worried.”_

Brian snorted, his shoulders moving with the noise and his eyes smiling even though he looked borderline discomposed. “Worried about _what_?” 

A noise rang out through their minds, one they’d never heard from Oz before, of absolutely childish frustration that threatened to send the fear monster into a kid-like tantrum. 

_”I DON’T KNOW!”_

But instead of a tantrum following them stomping their feet, Oz, instead, resumed their worried expression that only seemed a thousand times worse, now. They started moving again, but instead of a slow, terrorized pace, they all but ran through the rooms, unsure of what they should even do with themselves. They felt ridiculous. They looked ridiculous. 

Vicky’s teasing voice from back on the couch didn’t help any. “They’re nervous to go to prom with their _boyfriend_.” 

Fast as light, Oz reappeared in the doorway of the living room. _”He is_ not _my boyfriend!”_

The voices of betrayed boys and heartbroken girls were sobs coming from the television program, loud as Hell because trashy TV was meant to be enjoyed openly and boldly. Lots of _‘I thought you loved me’_ s and _‘then why did you sleep with my brother’_ s were being thrown around, and yet despite all that, they could practically still _hear_ Amira’s eyes rolling. 

“Yeah, OK Oz. Stop being such a dork, we all know the truth.” 

_”But he’s not!”_

“Ok, then we all know the truth, and you and Damien are both being dumbasses.” She slumped down into the couch to tilt her head all the way back, just so she could look at Oz upside-down when she asked, “Is that better?” 

And no that wasn’t _better_! But Oz just wrung out their hands again and settled for crossing them over their arms to try and stop themselves from continuing to shake them until they fell off their body. It didn’t help any of their other a thousand problems, though. 

_”Are we...are we all going to go together?”_

The initial response didn’t bode well for Oz, as they were met with immediate silence. Suddenly, everyone was glued to the television set as if their lame show had turned into a high-speed car chase on the freeway. Oz was starting to shake again. 

Amira was the first one to speak up, stuttering with her beginning. “Sorry, bud...I wish I could, but Vera has some other plans for our night. Some ritual she’s been planning. I don’t know. She said she’d be taking care of the details sooo....” 

And Vicky’s response wasn’t much better. “Yeah, and Scott and I are going to watch a game first before we head over.” 

The little blue girl sat up on her knees and leaned over the back of the couch. It was only then that she really got a good look at Oz, and her internal mood switched from thinking her friend was just being weird as always, to genuine concern. The fear monster looked wide-eyed, eyes swimming on their face so large that they almost encompassed their head, and their skin crawled with the number of phobias teetering just on the edges, ready to burst from Oz’s form. But she figured pointing any of that out wouldn’t do anyone any good. Her smile faltered for a moment, but eventually held steady. 

“But don’t worry, Oz! We’ll totally meet you there!” 

She tried to hum as evenly as she could, then, to hopefully give Oz something to focus on that wasn’t their probably terrible, catastrophic thoughts. But it was hard to keep a steady tune when she was having to stare down at the horror that Oz was becoming in front of her eyes. Vicky crossed her arms on the back of the couch, laying her head down on them. The small monster grinned up at her friend, toothy and kind as they began pacing back and forth again. 

“We wouldn’t leave you all alone with scary Damien.” 

_”Well, it’s not really him I’m worried about...”_

_It’s me._

No one commented on that. They stayed like that for a little while, until eventually Vicky gave up staring at Oz being a wreck and turned back towards the television set, huffing while she did so. Oz’s fingers danced on their opposite arms, legs shaking but not enough that they couldn’t stay still to stutter out a question. 

_”So Brian...should I even ask?”_

But the zombie was quiet, quieter than the rest and quieter than he normally was, staring ahead at the TV, although Oz wasn’t actually sure that he was even watching it. It was a much longer silence than before, until Brian broke it. 

“I mean...If you _want_ , I can go along with you two...” 

Oz knew that tone. They all knew that tone. _”But?”_

The zombie just shrugged, eyes lowering to the table he had his feet up on. “I didn’t say a ‘but’.” 

_”I’m aware you didn’t say it. But I know it was coming.”_

Brian sighed, then, heavy and loud, exasperated and with more drama than he would ever put into his speech. “I just...I just don’t like him, is all.” 

He said it like it was just that simple. Like it wasn’t supposed to mean anything. As if Oz wasn’t supposed to care that their best friend clearly couldn’t stand the guy they had been going around with for almost a month and a half. But it wasn’t anything they didn’t already know, nothing Brian hadn’t voiced but with a much more beat-around-the-bush vocabulary, before. It was just different to hear him actually say it _like that_. 

Vicky rolled over on the couch to lay down on it, turning towards the zombie. “Oooooo Brian are you sure you’re not just _jealous_ of Damien?” 

The fear monster fully made their way over to the group, then, just to give her a light slap on the back of the head. _”As if, Vicky!”_

But when they stopped to think about it, which they hadn’t really before, Brian hadn’t seemed to have set his hearts on anyone in particular. Whenever he was asked about it, the answer was broad and vague, uncommitted and open to interpretation. Which naturally meant the group interpreted it in the worst ways possible. But did that mean...? 

_”Um, Brian...who_ are _you going with?”_

“Like I said before, I...I’ve got a few options.” 

A pause followed that Amira interrupted by jolting up with a possibility, leaning forward on the couch to get up into Brian’s space on the chair. “WAIT, are you telling me you STILL haven’t decided who you’re taking to prom? Dude, it’s literally in less than five hours!” 

But Brian just looked even more bored by where the conversation was going. “What? No. No, no. I’m just...going with a few people, I guess you could say.” 

Vicky was mid-reaching for a cookie on the table and Amira had almost gone back to picking out jewelry for the night from her collection that she had spread out everywhere, when they both stopped to look at each other. Amira was the one to voice what they were both wondering. “As...as friends?” 

And if Brian had been absolutely procrastinating getting ready for the night before, he was entirely abandoning that, now, to get up and go shower and get himself _out_ of that conversation. “No, not as _friends_.” He was already at his and Oz’s bedroom doorway when he mumbled out, “I have a few _dates_ , ok?” 

The three friends that remained in the living room almost couldn’t be sure that they had heard him correctly, because for one thing he was purposefully turned away from them with his head down, and two because _WHAT?_ They all knew the last few weeks had been a blur, but they couldn’t believe that Brian had somehow let him going out with _a few different people_ slip by them all. 

Vicky couldn’t help but laugh, cheery and honestly, not really that fazed by Brian’s actions even if they should have seemed surprising. Amira just let out a long whistle and a “damn boy” not-really-under her breath. But during all of that, Oz was _sick_ to their stomach, realizing they had spent weeks talking about Damien, spending more time with him than any of their friends, and they couldn’t for the life of them name a single person Brian would be attending prom with. 

When had they become so _self-centered_? 

_Shit_. 

Queasy and uneven in their walk out of the room towards the kitchenette table to actually sit down for a minute, they still managed a huff. _”Well, I guess I’m on my own, then.”_

Vicky ground her teeth before she yelled out from the couch, “YOU HAVE A DATE, REMEMBER?” 

But the fear monster only buried their head in their hands, elbows on the kitchenette table. They let out an anguished and annoyed groan that quickly turned into them yelling back, matching Vicky’s volume. _”IT’S NOT A DATE.”_

Now they had so much more to be stressed about. It was already enough to be so fucking worried about the whole prom situation. They had spent enough time alone with Damien, so why did this feel like such a big deal? As if this was going to be the first time it would just be the two of them? As if this actually _were_ a date? It was a ridiculous feeling, and Oz couldn’t figure it out. The whole thing just made their head spiral. But their entire being kept shaking, making it unignorable. 

If they hadn’t been just about ready to vomit, if they were even capable, and hadn’t wrapped their arms around their head, they probably would have heard their phone vibrating on the table in front of the television stand. Unfortunately, they had been doing all of those things, which meant Vicky got to it first. 

“Oooz, your boyfriend is calling! And if you don’t come get it quick, I’m going to answer it for you!” 

Oz had never moved faster in their life. 

 

\--------- 

Oz was sliding open the balcony door and stepping out of the apartment when they finally picked up the call. It had been vibrating in their hand for so long they were sure that any second it would go to voicemail, but they couldn’t stand the thought of answering it while their friends could all hear them. When they pressed the phone to their ear and let out a cautious, worried greeting, it felt like they hadn’t heard the demon’s voice in forever. It had only been a couple of days, but those had stretched out into what felt like eons of solitude and they had almost forgotten how harsh the demon could be without meaning to. 

**”Yo, did you die on the way to answering your fucking phone?”**

What? Oh, right. 

_“Uh, no, sorry, I was just...nevermind.”_ They shuffled their feet against the concrete of the balcony ground, resting their back against the closed door as they stared down. _”I was just kind of in the middle of something.”_

Yeah, in the middle of having about four hundred and seventy-five panic attacks. But they left that part out. 

**”Alright, sure, whatever. What time do you want me to come get you?”**

Oh. _Oh._ Damien was coming to pick them up? Damien was coming to pick them up. Damien...was coming to pick them up... They really hadn’t arranged this very well, amidst all their worrying. They hadn’t even considered that a possibility. For some reason they had gotten it in their head that they would either meet Damien at prom or go to Damien’s house. It always seemed like Oz’s place was meant for goodbyes, not beginnings. At least, that’s what the track record showed. 

_“Um, well, maybe in a couple hours, still.”_

Oz leaned over the balcony railing, looking down at the street where Damien had dropped them off a number of times, where Damien had first given them his number, where Damien had sat with them on the sidewalk and listened to them go off like an insane person, basically doing the equivalent of sobbing for an eldritch abomination. Why was Damien even still with them? They didn’t want to think about that. They’d just count their blessings and run with it. 

**“A COUPLE HOURS? What’s gonna take you so fucking long?”** They heard the demon clear his throat. It was unclear if he was actually attempting to calm himself down, or if he was just clearing his throat from yelling. **”I wanted to uhh...do a bit of pre-gaming with you, first.”**

Oz appreciated that, as they definitely believed they would need to be some sort of level of not-sober to make it through this night. Or even the rest of this conversation. 

_“Um, yeah, we can do that. I just need to pick up my suit, first, from uhh down the street. I had to get it tailored.”_

Having unnaturally long and thin limbs was a curse, they swore it. 

_“And then, I’m going to get my hair done. I’ve been putting it off for so long, and I really was supposed to go after I left your house last week...but somehow that slipped away from me. I just figure I should actually look decent for this, at least.”_

They weren’t sure why they had stayed inside all day. They certainly hadn’t spent it with their friends, at least not sincerely, and it was one of the nicest days Oz had seen thus far in the year. They wondered if Damien and them could actually go out and do something together before prom. It sure would be nice... 

**“Uuh, well, like I said when you were at my house, I mean,”** the Prince paused, **”I can do it for you?”**

It really took Oz a moment to understand what part of what they had said Damien was referring to. It truly felt like Oz was just rambling on without a thought in their head about what they were saying. Their mind was too busy swimming in negative thoughts and feelings of the future to come. 

_”Oh...you mean...you mean my hair? You could do my hair for me?”_

**”Yeah, fuckwit, what did I just say? And don’t start worrying your little head off about it, ok? I bet you’re already being all nervous over there.”**

Oh, if only Damien knew. Actually, scratch that, he was so much better off not knowing. 

**”Don’t worry, just trust me.”**

Oz had initially meant it as a joke when they sputtered out, _”Why should I?”_

A deep, dark laugh that Oz suddenly realized they really missed hearing in person rumbled through the phone. **”Well, I guess you shouldn’t, but let me fucking do this anyways, alright?”**

 

\----- 

The fear monster had really assumed they’d be more...triggered, perhaps, at Damien being in their apartment again, more nervous to have him around their friends after the conversation they had all just had together, none of which they wanted repeated in front of Damien. But surprisingly, it almost felt _normal_. Maybe it was because the demon was making an effort to be civil for once, or maybe it was because their friends were making that effort, as well. 

But there was still a sensation of feeling faint that ran through Oz’s body. Partially, it was because they were still so nervous about the night ahead of them, but also because Damien looked _so good_ standing there. He had a white dress shirt on and his jeans, holding a suit bag that most likely held his suit jacket and proper pants. But other than the dress shirt, he really looked well put together, as if he actually hadn’t gotten drunk the night before, as if he had had a nice long shower before coming over, as if he had...makeup on? 

Oz was clumsily complimenting him on his appearance and asking about the suit he had chosen. 

“Oh, this? Yeah, it’s alright. I wanted to get something _sick_ but my dads were like ‘I thought you didn’t even give a shit about prom’ and hey, I couldn’t argue much about that.” 

After hanging up the suit bag on the back of Oz’s bedroom door, and long after Brian had evacuated the space for the two of them, Damien had taken the lead. In one hand he held a bag of supplies, and with the other he grabbed Oz’s desk chair and carried it to the bathroom. 

_”Sorry, I mean...if you really don’t want to go, we can do something else tonight.”_

“...What?” 

_”Prom. I mean prom. If you really don’t want to go-”_

But Oz was being pushed down into the chair Damien had set up in front of the mirror before they could finish, with the demon’s lips pressing against the blank expanse on their face. It was only for a couple of seconds, but in that moment, Oz was sure time had stopped dead in its tracks. When Damien pulled away a little, he smelled of soap and cologne and ash, but not cigarette smoke or alcohol. Oz almost preferred him that way, if it hadn’t been so strangely different from the norm. Whatever it was Oz had been in the middle of saying, they’d forgotten entirely. They weren’t even aware they had been part-way through a sentence just moments ago. 

“I told you, stop worrying your pretty little head over this. We’re going to make this fucking great, like you said.” 

Had Oz said that? Were they now going to have to live up to any expectations Damien had set up for the night? Oh no way- _Oh_. But Damien had called them...pretty? Sort of? Had they imagined that just now? 

They were in the midst of trying to recall, exactly, when the demon Prince pulled out a pair of scissors from his bag of tools. The phobias on Oz’s shoulders looked shocked and horrified as they popped up, one of them faking fainting. The display made Damien aggressively worried, eyes darting back and forth between the little phobias terrified faces and the scissors in his hand. 

Oz came back to reality in time to clarify. “ _Oh, they’re just messing with you! You’re not actually going to be cutting bits of them off. They’re not part of my hair.”_

But the little phobias looked upset that Oz had to be such a downer on their prank, especially when they actually had managed to get Damien looking _concerned_. 

“Oh thank fucking fuck, man. There was no way I was going to do this if it meant those little things were going to be screaming as I severed them this whole time. No fucking way.” 

And before Oz had the chance to laugh about it, too, there were hands in their hair. Soft, gentle hands that could not, no way, belong to Damien LaVey. But Oz’s eyes met the demon’s in the mirror above the sink they were positioned towards, and sure enough, it was him. Fingers ran through their shadowy locks, accessing the length and the layers. A Prince of Hell shouldn’t have been allowed to be so loving with his touch. 

“You know um, I’m actually thinking of becoming a hair stylist.” He smoothed Oz’s hair back, combing through it with claws that seemed almost designed for that purpose. “Well, maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see.” 

_”If you’re going to make all your clients feel this good, and not just me, there’s no way I can let you do that.”_

Oz hadn’t been entirely sure they had meant to say that. Actually, no, they were definitely sure that had meant to be a thought reserved for their own mind alone. But by the way Damien grinned wide and how purposefully he seemed to be extra good to Oz while he did their hair, Oz didn’t regret it. They couldn’t, not when Damien was all but leaning into every movement he made, kissing Oz when he went in to check how even the hair was on both sides. And by the time it was done, it ended up looking quite similar to what the phobias had done to Oz in Damien’s bathroom. However, now it actually looked _good_ , even by the fear monster’s standards. 

“I had liked the way that looked,” the demon explained, as if he needed to. 

He almost added “you were so cute”. 

Almost. 

Instead, he settled on admiring his work, which Oz was already busy doing, unable to take their eyes off themselves in the mirror. 

“It’s nice to be back in your room.” 

Oz smiled with their eyes, beaming at everything that was happening. 

“Especially after last time.” 

Their smile faltered, eyes darting down temporarily, leaving their reflection in the mirror and settling on the sink faucets. 

“And hey, if this all turns out alright, and you let me back in, again, I’ll promise to make it worth your while.” 

Ok, they could accept that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was essentially me just wanting to write dialogue and some interactions  
> i'm fine with that. hope you are, too


End file.
